More than 1,000 people representing a number of civic and religious organizations, joined a “backwards march” in Taipei yesterday to show their opposition to the construction of casino resorts on off-shore islands.
Lining up behind a big red banner that read: “Save Taiwan from casinos,” the activists began their demonstration in Liberty Square and marched toward the Presidential Office.
When they reached Jingfu Gate (景福門) at the head of Ketagalan Boulevard, they turned around and marched backwards.
Taking part were members of groups representing women, Penghu residents, environmentalists, Christians, Taoists and Buddhists.
“This is the first time in history that so many people have walked backwards at the same time — because we’re worried that casinos would drag the country backwards in terms of the economy, public security, the environment, politics and morals,” said Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳), spokesman of the Alliance against the Legalization of Gambling.
He pointed out that Nevada, the US state where Las Vegas is located, ranks first in suicide and gambling addiction, third in bankruptcy and abortion, fourth in rape cases and alcohol-related deaths and last in voter turnout in presidential elections.
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Off-Shore Island Development Act (離島建設條例) in January that allows off-shore islands to build casinos after obtaining consent from a majority of residents in a simplified referendum.
Many local governments have shown an interest in building casino resorts, with Penghu County being the most active.
While the Penghu County Government estimates that casino resorts could attract more than 5 million visitors per year to Penghu and bring in more than NT$2.2 billion (US$63 million) in annual tax revenue, Buddhist Master Shih Chao-hui (釋昭慧) said that Taiwan would pay a much higher price.
“According to US studies, 17 percent of gamblers would become addicted and it takes US$18,000 to treat each of them,” Shih said. “Based on the figures, if 4.5 million gamblers in Penghu are from Taiwan, then we will need to spend NT$45 billion — plus other welfare spending and costs — to treat them.”
Huang Chi-hsiang (黃啟翔), a 28-year-old from Penghu, said only a handful of people — such as big corporations and politicians — would benefit from casinos.
“What would really benefit everyone in Penghu is to develop resort tourism modeled on Hawaii, Bali or the Great Barrier Reef,” he said.
As a casino referendum may be held in Penghu at the end of the year, Huang is worried.
“I know that most people my age are against casinos, but many older people are for them,” he said. “I’m a bit worried because most young people are either working or studying away from home.”
The march ended with a concert on Ketagalan Boulevard.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
RSS