Holding a banner that said “President Ma, please save human rights and culture,” Losheng Sanatorium preservation activists staged a surprise sit-in demonstration outside President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) residence in Taipei early yesterday morning.
About 60 people from the Youth Alliance for Losheng and sanatorium residents appeared on the sidewalk across the street from Ma’s apartment at about 6:30am.
Hoping to talk to Ma directly, they sat down quietly on the sidewalk and along the roadside, holding banners and placards demanding the preservation of the sanatorium and its designation as a historic site.
The sanatorium complex in Sinjhuang City (新莊), Taipei County, was built during the Japanese colonial period to isolate patients with Hansen’s disease.
A decision made a few years ago to demolish the sanatorium to make way for an MRT maintenance depot has faced strong opposition from supporters who believe the place bears important witness to the history of Taiwan’s public health system. They said that forcing the residents to relocate after forcing them to live there for decades a violation of human rights.
The matter has remained unresolved as preservationists and the Public Constructions Commission have failed to reach an agreement on a new construction plan that would still see many of the buildings torn down.
“We were notified earlier this month that the Department of Rapid Transport plans to go ahead with construction on Aug. 1,” Wang Hao-chung (王顥中), a member of the youth alliance said in explaining the reason for the demonstration.
“Ma Ying-jeou has repeatedly said that he knows the problem well — but now it’s urgent, we want to know what he has to propose to resolve the issue,” Wang said.
After nearly two hours of negotiation and minor verbal disputes with local police and National Security Bureau agents in charge of the president’s personal security, Ma finally agreed to receive three representatives among the demonstrators and came out of his apartment at about 8:15am.
After a two-minute meeting, Ma jumped into a waiting car, leaving the disappointed demonstrators.
“After listening to [Losheng resident] Chen Chai-tien [陳再添], Ma’s only response was that he would ask government agencies to study our request,” an activist surnamed Hung told the crowd that was waiting across the street after the brief meeting.
“When I tried to give more details, I was told that only one person could talk and Ma told me not to interrupt Chen. Some security officers even tried to pull me away,” he said. “I don’t think he was really listening to us.”
“So when Ma went into his car, I shouted that we’ll be back in seven days if we don’t hear anything back from him,” Hung said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS