A petition signed by Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Minister Thomas Chan (詹順貴) protesting the demolition of a farmers’ market by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has sparked a war of words between Chan and DPP Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑), who accused Chan of “stabbing his allies in the back.”
Chan, a veteran social and environmental campaigner, earlier this month said on Facebook that he had signed the petition to protest Chen’s demolition of the market in Kaohsiung’s Sanmin District (三民) and to urge the Kaohsiung City Government to respect human rights in its decisionmaking processes.
“After reading a lot of information and comparing the penetrating questions raised by a local self-help group and the Kaohsiung City Government’s ambiguous replies, I decided to break a political taboo by signing the petition with my real name and my title as EPA deputy minister, even though that was not required,” Chan said.
The petition calls the demolition a “reverberation of an authoritarian government where high-ranking officials call the shots on all development plans.”
“Could the demolition not have been carried out by a democratic procedure?” Chan said. “Even if I agreed with Chen’s reasoning and visions for the project, I could not approve of the procedure.”
Liang yesterday accused Chan of being a backstabber.
“[Chan] wants to serve as an official and show people that he is a conscientious social activist. He works for the DPP administration and yet he has stabbed his allies in the back,” Liang said. “It is commendable to hold on to your ideals on social activism, but you cannot have the best of both worlds. Are you not tired of being two-faced?”
In response, Chan said: “Does being an official mean that one should not have a clear conscience? Were Councilor Liang’s comments based on an affinity for a monarchy? Let us leave the judgement to society.”
Liang said that Chan was either attempting to grab the limelight or intentionally hurting the DPP’s image.
He lauded Chen for having the courage to tackle the issue of the farmers’ market, which he said had caused problems in the area for 40 years.
The Kaohsiung City Government on Sept. 1 deployed police to the market and tore it down, despite a sit-in by local residents, who said that they would be forced to relocate in the wake of the demolition.
Chen said the market was located in a flood-prone area and that it often caused traffic congestion on Shihcyuan Road.
She said that although 21 of the 120 households living closest to the market opposed the demolition, she had made a “tough decision” for the greater good.
The city government would offer subsidies to the affected residents and help them relocate, Chen said, adding that the market would be rebuilt in a location with flood-prevention facilities.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS