Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
His remarks were "clear discrimination and the worst humiliation possible to indigenous people," Hsieh said. "How can anybody say such a thing to another human being? It was either a slip of the tongue or he is simply prejudiced."
Hsieh made the remarks in response to a comment made by Ma on Dec. 8 in Sindian City (
At a campaigning event, a Sijhou Community woman (溪洲部落) called on Ma to have an embankment built to prevent her community from being relocated.
In response, Ma told the woman: "If you come into the city, you are a Taipei citizen; I see you as a human being ... I will educate you well."
"Aborigines should adjust their mentality -- if you come into the city you have to play by its rules," he said.
TRUE COLORS
Hsieh said Ma had insulted Aborigines and that his comments were similar to telling a gibbon staying at somebody's home that you will treat it as a human being. By saying so, a person is in fact showing they see their guest as a gibbon.
Ma's comments in Sindian drew national attention after an anonymous source sent video footage of the campaign event to the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) on Saturday.
Hsieh yesterday said the issue highlighted the importance of holding a debate with the two presidential candidates, adding that issues concerning Aborigines should be included in the debate.
Hsieh said his view on minority rights is that issues concerning minority groups should not be decided by majority groups alone because the minority will always be the loser when its interests conflict with the majority ethnic group.
Hsieh said his ultimate goal was to amend the Constitution to grant Aborigines autonomy.
Hsieh said he had worked toward that goal during his term as premier, when the Aboriginal Basic Law (
"I have utmost respect for the earliest settlers of this land," he said. "I don't just say it, I take action."
Meanwhile, Hsieh said that although Ma was touting a position on Taiwan's status similar to the DPP's Resolution on Taiwan's Future (
MA TALKS BACK
Ma yesterday denied that his comments about Aborigines were discriminatory and accused the media of distorting his remarks.
"This is apparently a distortion of my remarks. I said that I treated the Aborigines as `our people,'" Ma said yesterday in Miaoli County.
Ma's spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) later issued a press release with Ma's Dec. 8 comments in full and said Ma is not prejudiced against Aborigines.
Lo said Ma had told the Sjizhou Community resident that the community should move to a safer place with no threat of flooding and that he promised to take care of the community's members if elected president.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS