The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday announced the first of its at-large legislative candidates, with party leaders promising to call for support for Amis Aboriginal activist Kawlo Iyun Pacidal to be placed at the top of the party’s at-large legislative slate.
Kawlo — who appeared in full traditional dress — was presented with a decorative belt and ceremonial gourd by Aboriginal representatives before donning the NPP’s trademark yellow campaign jacket, promising to fight for Aboriginal tribes to be recognized as independent nations and have jurisdiction over ancestral lands returned to them by the central government.
A former reporter for Taiwan Indigenous TV, Kawlo was previously involved in several Aboriginal social movements, notably helping to found the Amis Defense Alliance, which has protested development projects in traditional Amis lands along the nation’s east coast.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The party said it will nominate eight at-large candidates, with individual candidate rankings on the slate to be determined via online voting by party members and supporters.
Party founder Freddy Lim (林昶佐) said most online votes — which are also used for internal party governance and platform changes — are determined by a core group of several hundred supporters, promising to campaign for Kawlo to be placed in the slate’s top spot.
“Pushing her to the top spot is my responsibility, objective and honor,” he said, adding that promoting Aboriginal rights was one of his major goals in founding the party.
Party chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said he would do everything in his power “as an individual” to help her win the ranking vote without compromising his neutrality as party head.
He said that her placement on the party’s at-large list represented a party “commitment” to promote Aboriginal rights, promising to establish a campaign office for her in the nation’s east.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
ANNUAL LIGHT SHOW: The lanterns are exhibited near Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the airport MRT line More than 400 lanterns are to be on display at the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which officially starts in Taoyuan today. The city is hosting the festival for the second time — the first time was in 2016. The Tourism Administration held a rehearsal of the festival last night. Chunghwa Telecom donated the main lantern of the festival to the Taoyuan City Government. The lanterns are exhibited in two main areas: near the high-speed rail (HSR) station in Taoyuan, which is at the A18 station of the Taoyuan Airport MRT, and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the MRT
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic. The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit