News

Name-change activists being harassed: groups

Friday, 07 November 2014 07:27 Taipei Times

Aboriginal and civic groups yesterday protest in front of the National Police Agency against what they say has been police harassment of Aborigines who participated in spraying graffiti on the facade of the Guangfu Township Office in Hualien County last month.
Photo courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ Policy

Aboriginal and civic groups yesterday accused the government of conducting a “political witch hunt” with its pursuit of activists who spray-painted the Guangfu Township (光復) Office building in Hualien County to demand the restoration of Aboriginal names to tribal areas.

Early on Oct. 19, the Fa-Ta Alliance for Attack and Defense (馬太攻守聯盟), an Aboriginal group with members from the local Fataan and Tafalong communities in Hualien, painted graffiti on the facade of the office reading: “The land is the eternal nation” and “Whose restoration [(光復, guangfu)]? Names [of places] should be left to the master of the land,” along with the Aboriginal names of the two tribes.

Poll finds rising fear of HK-like future

Tuesday, 04 November 2014 10:10 Taipei Times

More than 70 percent of Taiwanese fear that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policies will lead the nation toward becoming a “second Hong Kong,” and just 10 percent view China in a favorable light, a survey released yesterday by the Taiwan Brain Trust found.

The think tank’s president, Wu Rong-i (吳榮義), said that more than 70 percent of respondents regard Taiwan as an independent country.