Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that, if elected in January’s presidential election, she would issue an official apology to the Aborigines on behalf of the government.
She added that she would also push forward reforms of Aboriginal policies on the basis of “equality, dignity and autonomy.”
Tsai, who is one-quarter Payuan on her grandmother’s side, criticized the government for having “failed to take into account the plight of urban Aborigines,” quoting the lyrics of Aboriginal singer Panai’s song Wandering as a commentary on Aboriginal policies.
“I bid my farewells to my home by the mountain, holding back the tears,” she said.
Tsai pledged that if elected she would “apologize to Aborigines on behalf of the government for the tears that they have shed.”
She said she has a “special emotional bond” with Aborigines because of her ancestry, adding that she had been “heartbroken” to hear from Aboriginal elders that they are losing their cultural heritage due to a widening generational gap and that the elderly remaining in their traditional communities lack proper care.
DPP legislative candidate Walis Pelin said the party’s Aboriginal policies would restore Aborigines’ rights to their ancestral lands and guarantee real autonomy, adding that the state must use its resources to preserve Aboriginal languages and cultures.
DPP legislative candidate Chen Ying (陳瑩) said the central government should accommodate Aborigines’ annual ritual feasts and holidays by providing longer vacations so that Aborigines can return home to practice their culture.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as
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