Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday dismissed the Presidential Office’s suggestion to push for legislation banning ethnic discrimination and ensuring transitional justice, saying pursuit of the latter could lead to greater social divisions and hatred.
“It would be better to not mix things together. We should seek to understand what the true essence of transitional justice is. If it targets certain individuals or has particular ways of handling things, then I wonder whether the objective is to achieve justice or twist it,” Hung said in Taipei.
If the goal is to “twist” justice, then transitional justice will not promote social harmony, but instead could aggravate divisions and hatred, she added.
Hung was responding to comments made by Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) on Saturday, who welcomed the KMT’s willingness to focus on ethnic equality and urged Hung and the KMT to join the government’s efforts to push for transitional justice to ensure a “true” implementation of freedom, democracy, justice and human rights.
Huang’s remarks came after Hung announced the KMT’s plan to propose legislation banning “discrimination based on ethnicity,” amid public outcry over self-styled citizen reporter Hung Su-chu’s (洪素珠) recent verbal abuse of older waishengren (外省人) — a term used to refer to people who fled to Taiwan with the KMT regime in 1949 after its defeat in the Chinese Civil War.
The KMT also issued a statement yesterday denouncing the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) promotion of transitional justice as a ploy to sow ethnic hatred and a catalyst for bigoted rhetoric, such as that voiced by the Taiwan Civil Government, a group with which Hung Su-chu is affiliated.
“The DPP’s transitional justice plan and the KMT’s ethnic discrimination legislation proposal are fundamentally different,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) said in the statement.
“What we aim to do is eliminate hatred,” Chow said.
Instead of promoting legislation concerning people’s livelihoods, Chow said that the Legislative Yuan, in which the DPP has the majority, has apparently focused on advocating for legislation to manage illicit party assets and promoting transitional justice.
Taiwan has a pluralistic, immigrant society that revolves around the Zhonghua culture (中華文化), Chow said, urging the DPP to support the KMT’s ethnic discrimination bill, as it endeavors to ensure respect and tolerance among people with different ethnic backgrounds.
The Ministry of Finance this afternoon announced the winning numbers for the March-April uniform invoice lottery. The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$318,060) special prize is 19531471, and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 85941329. Three numbers were drawn for the NT$200,000 first prize: 07225810, 20231230 and 83518781. Those with receipts matching the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers will win the NT$40,000 second prize, while those matching the last six digits will win the NT$10,000 third prize. Those whose receipts match the last five digits of the first-prize numbers can claim the NT$4,000 fourth prize,
SIX SUBSIDIES: The monthly allowance for older farmers is to increase to NT$10,000, and NT$5,000 is to be given to homemakers under the national pension system, Lai said The government is to implement major welfare policies for disadvantaged groups, including raising the monthly allowance for older farmers to NT$10,000 and providing homemakers with NT$5,000 per month, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks during a visit to Wangling Temple in Chiayi County, saying that the planned increases were being introduced amid economic growth and an increase in tax revenue. Touting a policy, in which the government plans to provide a monthly allowance of NT$5,000 for every child under the age of 18 in a bid to address Taiwan’s low birthrate, Lai said that if received for the
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
RSS