Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Save local languages from the KMT

Taipei Times Editorial

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has again shown its ignorance of and disrespect — if not contempt — for local cultures by making local language studies an elective — rather than mandatory as it promised — course in junior high schools.

Although former minister of education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) had made the promise during a legislative meeting, a curriculum committee meeting yesterday rejected the idea, listing the classes as optional and to be offered only when students request them.

Nation mourns death of great historian

Taipei Times

Taiwan Society president Chang Yen-hsien speaks at a forum in Taipei on Sept. 13.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times

Senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members, friends and fans lamented the death of former Academia Historica president Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲), who passed away during a research trip to the US on Friday evening Taipei time.

“Thank you, Professor Chang, thank you for what you have done for Taiwan, it was because of your insistence on researching the 228 Incident and White Terror that the younger generation are able to get to know more about this island from a Taiwan-oriented perspective, and write about our own history,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on her official Facebook page. “May you rest in peace, we will always remember you.”

Rezoning proposals smells of vote-buying

Hsu Shih-jung 徐世榮

Election time has come around again and, as everyone knows, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is in its element when it comes to organizing support, with the local party headquarters and grassroots support working together to mobilize core votes.

The thing is, the KMT is not a reformist party: Not only does it have little time for democracy and human rights, its members also suffer from a serious lack of ideals or passion for principles and doctrine. So how does the the organization mobilize its members?

HK’s tears shame an insane regime

Joseph Lee 李榭熙

Moral action in politics prevents the spirit of justice and compassion from being extinguished among us. This is particularly true for the “umbrella revolution” in Hong Kong, where pro-democracy activists used umbrellas to protect themselves from pepper spray and tear gas last weekend. The shocking images of riot police throwing tear gas canisters at the crowd and beating up unarmed civilians tarnished the territory’s reputation as being cosmopolitan, open and tolerant of dissent within China.

The week-long strike by Hong Kong’s university students has drawn much international attention to China’s attempt to restrict electoral reforms and prescreen candidates for the first direct election of the territory’s chief executive in 2017.

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