A coalition of housing rights advocates yesterday rallied in front of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters to call for hearings on controversial development and expropriation cases nationwide.
Dozens of advocates and people affected by land expropriation parodied a religious ceremony and burned paper offerings to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier William Lai (賴清德), Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who they said were “ghost kings and queens” responsible for inappropriate seizure of properties and the victimization of residents.
They called for administrative hearings to be held for a planned underground railroad line in Tainan, the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project, the relocation of residents in a former military dependents’ village at Daguan (大觀) community in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) and rezoning in the Wenzaizun (塭仔圳) area in the city’s Sinjhuang District (新莊).
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Chen Chih-hsiao (陳致曉), spokesman for a self-help association of Tainan residents affected by land expropriation for the railroad project, said that Lai had flip-flopped on the project, as he originally opposed it as a lawmaker, but sought to enforce the project when he became mayor.
Following the controversial approval of the railroad project in August last year, the Ministry of the Interior announced a set of regulations as the legal foundation for a hearing, but the government has rejected their requests, Chen Chih-hsiao said.
“The hearing regulations were announced to gloss over the government’s shameless hypocrisy,” he said.
Lai in his new capacity as premier could withdraw the project or hold an administrative hearing on its legitimacy, but has done neither, he said.
Daguan resident Tang Chia-mei (湯家梅) said they are facing forced eviction, as the Veterans Affairs Council plans to demolish the community that was built on land owned by the council.
The community was part of a military dependents’ village, which was destroyed during a typhoon in 1963. The village relocated, but locals rebuilt the community without council approval. The government had acquiesced until recently.
The Taoyuan Aerotropolis project plans to expropriate more than 3,000 hectares of land, but just about 1,000 hectares is sufficient for the airport facilities, local resident Tsai Mei-fang (蔡梅芬) said, demanding the government downsize the project to prevent mass seizure and forced relocation.
A UN analysis of Taiwan’s enforcement of the human rights covenants this year showed that housing rights are the most pressing such issue in the nation, National Chengchi University professor Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮) said.
Only 0.08 percent of Taiwanese live in social housing, but the same figure in other East Asian nations averages out to 5 percent, Hsu said.
“President and [DPP] chairperson Tsai Ing-wen has promised that the government would take the UN analysis as the floor of the nation’s protection of human rights instead of the ceiling. I hope Tsai will honor her promise and revise the law,” Hsu said.
The DPP said it respects the protesters’ opinions.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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