A group of young people from Penghu County yesterday urged other residents of the archipelago working in Taiwan proper to return home and vote against gambling in an upcoming referendum on allowing corporations to establish casinos in Penghu.
At a press conference in Taipei, Liu Yu-ming (劉昱明), a student at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Law, warned that Penghu’s image and reputation as a natural paradise could be tarnished if residents voted “yes” in the referendum.
Describing the referendum as a “turning point in history,” Liu said residents of the islands were faced with the question of whether to embrace a luxurious lifestyle and give up their modest ways.
Liu said businesses in Penghu would suffer if casinos were allowed to operate there.
Hsueh Kuan-chung (薛貫中), a college graduate from Penghu living in Kaohsiung, said the establishment of casinos in Penghu would exacerbate the problems the island county is facing.
The anti-gambling activists’ call came ahead of the nation’s first referendum on the establishment of casinos, which will be held in Penghu on Saturday.
The referendum will pose the question: “Should Penghu establish international resorts, along with casinos?”
The Referendum Act (公投法) stipulates that two thresholds need to be reached for a referendum to be valid.
First, more than 50 percent of eligible voters need to cast a referendum ballot, and second, of the valid votes, 50 percent of the voters need to respond in the affirmative for the referendum to be passed.
However, unlike the previous referendums held in Taiwan in recnt years, the casino referendum will be considered valid if more than half of the valid votes are in the affirmative.
The issue of legalizing gambling on outlying islands has been debated on and off for more than a decade, since long before the legislature approved related legislation on Jan. 12.
The activists said they are concerned about the possible impact on students’ values, the survival of local businesses, social stability and the environment if casinos are built on the islands, while those who support the establishment have trumpeted the potential economic benefits casinos would bring.
Yen Tz-chieh (顏子傑), a graduate student of political science, said the group of young people was trying to mobilize family and friends through MSN Messenger, Plurk and e-mail.
About 200 young people from Penghu planned to return to cast a negative vote in the referendum, Yen said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS