The Taiwan Society said yesterday that it is going to hold an indoor rally in Kaohsiung tomorrow to expand the "local culture movement" to southern Taiwan.
Society president Wu Shuh-min (
Wu said that the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) "colonial culture," which began after World War II, has resulted in "misconceptions" about local culture and national identity.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
Yang Wen-chia (楊文嘉), the society's secretary-general, said that the public has been influenced by the KMT's historical view of Oct. 25 as "Taiwan Retrocession Day," but that Taiwan's true restoration has yet to come.
The public has been granted only limited room for reform and promotion of Taiwanese consciousness, Yang said.
Calling the rally "At the Moment of Dawn," Yang said such a cultural movement is being held to symbolize a "refusal to be led by the forces of darkness" and "to heat up Taiwanese consciousness."
The event will also show how many people who had remained silent in the past finally rose up to fight and overcome these forces, he added.
A number of radio program hosts and hostesses from regional radio stations will be invited to the rally, as they are representative of the media on which "local political discourse has long depended on," he said, adding that these media organs have long been marginal-ized by mainstream media.
Democratic Progressive Party Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chu (陳菊) has promised to attend the rally, Yang said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS