Dozens of Huaguang Community (華光社區) residents and their supporters yesterday demonstrated outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei, asking it to come up with a plan to help them resettle and to withdraw lawsuits against them instead of threatening them with eviction to make way for an urban renewal project.
Located near Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Huaguang Community is a neighborhood of about 60 households, mostly made up of low-ranking soldiers who fled the Chinese Civil War with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime in 1949 and their descendants.
While the land on which the community is located is the property of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), most of residents have lived there for decades — and some non-Mainlander families have even been there for generations — without any problems.
With the word “home” written upside-down on red posters, symbolizing that their homes have collapsed because of the government’s eviction order, as well as lawsuits demanding millions of NT dollars from each household in compensation for occupying government property, the economically disadvantaged community residents rallied outside the Executive Yuan, asking it to seek a solution to their problems.
In the early 2000s, the government presented an urban renewal project and asked the predominantly economically disadvantaged families to move away, triggering a number of protests.
Although city and central government officials — including President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), when he served as mayor of Taipei — have made repeated promises to help residents resettle, what they eventually received was not a resettlement plan, but lawsuits over illegal occupation brought by the ministry, and a demand for millions of NT dollars in compensation from each household.
“How am I supposed to pay?” 73-year-old Chiu Chun-hsiung (邱春雄) said yesterday. “I’m old, ill and poor. I don’t have money, I can no longer work and I have no place to go.”
Chiu said that he has lived in the community for more than 40 years in a house that his parents passed down to him.
“I don’t know how my parents got the house, but during the decades I’ve lived there, I’ve always had power, running water and a house number, and I’ve paid real-estate tax every year,” Chiu said. “How was I supposed to know that I was living there illegally? Why didn’t you [the government] tell me earlier, when I was younger and able to work, to find another place to live?”
Chiu added that, besides worrying about where to go, what really troubles him is that the court has frozen his bank account and he has no money for the Lunar New Year.
“Most of the residents here are soldiers who followed the KMT government to Taiwan. The government allowed them to live here at the time and all of a sudden, the government says that it’s illegal for them to live here, asking them to leave and pay millions of NT dollars. How cruel is that?” another resident surnamed Chu (朱) said. “This is a historical issue that the government needs to take care of.”
Hsu Yi-fu (徐亦甫), a political science student at National Taiwan University who has long been helping Huaguang residents, urged the government to take a broader view on the issue, since this is not an isolated case.
Hsu said that when the KMT retreated to Taiwan, they brought millions of soldiers and civilians from China with them, and settled these people in “temporary” housing quarters similar to Huaguang Community around the country.
“They may not have lived in these places ‘legally,’ but because of the unique historic background of these living quarters, the resettlement of these residents should be given special considerations,” Hsu said.
“The central and local governments should stop holding each other responsible for solving the issue,” he added.
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
RSS