Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) yesterday bowed in apology in the Legislative Yuan for using a pejorative term about Aborigines on Wednesday, after an online apology and a statement failed to appease Aboriginal lawmakers and civic groups.
A proposal by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus to turn Chiu over to the legislature’s Discipline Committee was voted down by the DPP caucus yesterday, after which KMT lawmakers demanded an apology from Chiu.
Chiu walked to the center of the legislative chamber and bowed, saying “sorry” first to KMT lawmakers and then toward the audience mezzanine where reporters are seated.
Photo: Liao Chen-Huei, Taipei Times
KMT legislators Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), an Amis Aborigine, and Yosi Takun (孔文吉), a Sediq, and other Aboriginal lawmakers on Thursday criticized Chiu, saying her apologies were “insincere and unacceptable.”
During a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee on Wednesday, the KMT caucus asked to have Council of Agriculture officials report on the government’s plan to lift a ban on Japanese food imports from prefectures surrounding the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant meltdown, while DPP lawmakers said that a budget bill for the council should be given priority, leading to an argument between the two sides.
According to Sufin, Chiu said told KMT lawmakers: “There is no use talking to you huan-a [番仔, ‘uncivilized person’].”
Chiu later said that the term meant “unreasonable person” in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), but following an outcry from Aboriginal lawmakers, she released a statement saying she did not intend to provoke Aborigines and regretted causing offense.
“A politician should be circumspect in speech and action, and I sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding that might have resulted from my statements,” she wrote on Thursday in a Facebook post.
However, Sufin on Thursday said that “every single one of Taiwan’s 23 million citizens knows huan-a is a derogatory term for Aborigines.”
Chiu, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the DPP caucus should formally apologize, he said.
Sufin said he had initiated Discipline Committee proceedings against Chiu and would file an additional motion to condemn her remark at the legislature’s general assembly.
“Chiu’s apology is insincere and unacceptable. President Tsai must make another apology to Aborigines and the DPP caucus should fix this,” he said.
KMT Legislator Sra Kacaw (鄭天財), an Amis, said Chiu’s remark could have been made in the heat of the moment, but her ensuing apologies were “attempts to cover up anti-Aborigine discrimination.”
KMT Legislator Chien Tung-ming (簡東明), who also goes by his Paiwan name, Uliw Qaljupayare, said many Aboriginal residents of his constituency in Pingtung County had expressed their anger to him during face-to-face meetings on Wednesday, and that they wanted him to publicly reiterate their condemnation.
“I cannot believe hearing this from my friend Chiu,” said Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), an Atayal.
Chin said she believes Chiu “made the comment without ill-intent and in the heat of the moment,” but apologing afterward “should not have been so difficult.”
In related news, KMT Taipei and New Taipei City councilors on Thursday held a news conference at the KMT headquarters in Taipei, calling for Aborigines to “break the silence and stand in solidarity.”
New Taipei City Councilor Yang Chun-mei (楊春妹) also panned Minister of Council of Indigenous Peoples Icyang Parod.
“As the highest official in charge of Aboriginal affairs, he abandoned his responsibility to defend Aborigines from Chiu’s language,” Yang said, adding that Tsai needs to apologize to Aborigines or they would “take to the streets” in protest.
Additional reporting by CNA
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping