Political parties should include people with disabilities on their lists of candidates for next year’s legislative elections, enabling them and their families to be represented, advocacy groups said on Wednesday.
There are 1.2 million people with disabilities in Taiwan, but they and their 5 million family members are not represented by any legislators with disabilities, Taiwan Association for Disability Rights chairman Peter Chang (張宗傑) told a news conference in Taipei, urging decisionmakers not to “make decisions for people with disabilities” if they are not involved in the process.
The issue is non-partisan, Chang added.
Photo: CNA
Major political parties can show that they stand with the disabled community by ensuring that people with disabilities run for legislator-at-large seats in the Jan. 13 elections, Parents Association for the Visually Impaired secretary-general Lan Chie-chou (藍介洲) said.
People with disabilities best understand the challenges faced by members of their community, and they urgently need to have representation in the legislature, said Shih Yung-mu (施雍穆), an adviser to the Federation of Spinal Cord Injured.
Although Taiwan has adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and enacted the People with Disabilities Rights Protection Act (身心障礙者權益保障法), it is still difficult for people with disabilities to seek legal redress when they face discrimination, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chih-jung (徐志榮) said.
Members of the disabled community should have seats in the legislature to help form policies that could better meet their needs and enable them to oversee the government’s implementation of such polices, Hsu said.
Shyu Jong-shyong (徐中雄) of the KMT in 1993 became Taiwan’s first disabled lawmaker after he was elected to represent then-Taichung County in 1992.
He served six terms in the legislature before resigning to take up a post as one of three deputy mayors of Taichung in 2011, when Taichung City and Taichung County were merged to form a special municipality.
A constitutional amendment passed in 2005 reduced the number of seats in the legislature to 113, stipulating that 73 lawmakers would be locally elected, six elected by indigenous communities and 34 at-large seats for political parties that receive 5 percent or more of the total vote.
Since Shyu’s first term, there had been at least one lawmaker with disabilities until the current term that began in 2020, when no parties nominated members of the disabled community high on their lists of at-large seats.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it