The legislature’s Internal Administration Committee completed a preliminary review yesterday of the Executive Yuan’s draft “Hakka basic act,” which would require the government to designate a national holiday to honor the ethnic group and highlight the community’s contribution to Taiwan’s diversity.
The draft authorizes the Executive Yuan to hold inter-agency meetings to coordinate Hakka affairs and urges the government to hold national Hakka meetings at regular intervals.
The bill would also require the government to designate areas where the number of Hakka accounts for one-third of the area’s population as important regions for the development of Hakka culture.
The government should promote the Hakka language as an official language within these regions, the bill says.
Legislators agreed with Minister for Hakka Affairs Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) on most articles in the draft, but they challenged the council’s definition of the “Hakka community.”
The proposal defined the community as “descendants of Hakka,” “someone with Hakka relatives,” “someone fluent in Hakka language or culture” or “someone who identifies themselves as a member of the ethnic group.”
A number of legislators said the definition was too general, but Huang said a broad definition was necessary because intermarriage between the Hakka community and other ethnic groups were common.
Lawmakers later agreed that only descendants of Hakka or those who are related to the ethnic group and consider themselves part of the community could be considered members of the Hakka community.
“The draft Hakka basic act is a piece of legislation seeking to protect the rights of the Hakka people as a group,” Huang said, adding that he hoped the bill would soon clear the legislative floor.
Meanwhile, the Economics Committee passed a preliminary review of a proposed amendment to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) that would subject individuals who post or distribute images or footage of animal abuse to a maximum sentence of one year in prison.
However, people who post such images for academic purposes or social welfare reasons would be exempt.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
RSS