Dozens of supporters of San-ying Aboriginal Community (三鶯部落) — including social activists, students, musicians, writers, artists, film directors and academics — yesterday visited the campaign headquarters of both the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Sinbei mayoral candidates Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Eric Chu (朱立倫) to ask them to clarify their stand on the relocation of their community.
The Sanying Aboriginal Community is a small community where the vast majority of residents are Amis Aborigines from Hualien and Taitung counties who moved to Taipei to work as construction workers and miners about 30 years ago.
Since they could not afford housing in the city, they found a plot of unused land next to -Sanying Bridge (三鶯大橋) on the Dahan River (大漢溪) and built their own houses using whatever material they could find.
Photo: Kuo Yen-hui, Taipei Times
Over the past decade, the community has been razed by the county government several times as the houses were illegally constructed in a restricted zone. However, residents rebuilt their homes each time the village was flattened.
Although the county government built a block of rental apartments not far from the original Sanying Community for residents to move into, many continue to prefer the riverside village saying they could not afford the rent and utility bills.
As the issue remains unresolved, residents are keen to know how the future mayor plans to handle the issue.
“What we’re asking for is simple: Either allow the residents to stay where they are or find another plot of land for them to relocate,” said Chiang Yi-hau (江一豪), a core member of the Sanying Community Self-Help Association.
“We can discuss more details such as how to rent the land collectively, but at the very least we would like to know what they have in mind,” he said.
Film director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) said that “Aborigines are the real masters of this island” and deserve more respect from the government.
Writer Chu Tien-hsin (朱天心) pledged she would stand shoulder to shoulder with Sanying Community.
Eric Chu’s campaign spokesman Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) received the activists and promised that the- candidate would visit the community in person within a week — but declined to say whether it would be an open visit.
More than 200 Sanying residents and activists visited the two campaign headquarters on Oct. 9, and both candidates promised to visit the community within two weeks, but failed to do so.
A staffer at Tsai’s campaign office, Tseng Tsung-kai (曾琮愷), met with the activists and promised that the office “will send someone to the community within a week.”
Tsai commented to the media in a separate setting later that “making promises [about Sanying Community] during the campaign is unrealistic.”
“To solve the Sanying issue, I must have a better understanding of it and take into consideration Aboriginal culture and the residents’ wishes,” she said.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
RSS