Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Ma afraid to speak Taiwan’s name

Taipei Times Editorial

Amid the recently rekindled debate over what best describes the 50-year period when Taiwan was under Japan’s administration, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) on Monday night finalized the use of “Japanese occupation” (日據) in government documents, arguing that this concept, rather than “Japanese rule” (日治), “maintains the Republic of China’s (ROC) sovereignty and the dignity of the people.”

It’s funny to hear the premier oh-so-righteously defend the ROC’s sovereignty and dignity when his boss, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), appears to be belittling the ROC through his latest interpretation of the so-called “1992 consensus.”

Police told to use force, professor says

Taipei Times

Professor Hsu Shih-jung of National Chengchi University shows his bruises during a press conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday. The bruises were caused when he was arrested during a protest against the Dapu houses-demolition case.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

A university professor who was arrested on Tuesday during a protest over the forced demolition of houses in Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) accused national security authorities of instructing police to use excessive force against protesters and urged President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to stop enforcing repressive controls over its people.

“Most of Taipei City’s police officers were nice to me and I believe they were forced by national security authorities to handle the protest with violence. It’s the national security authorities that are uncivilized,” National Chengchi University professor Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮) said at the Taipei City Council.

A ‘Chinese’ affair: scrutiny needed

Chen Rong-jye 陳榮傑

The recent signing of a cross-strait service trade agreement, following closed-door negotiations has caused an uproar in Taiwan. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) says that if the agreement falls through, it will have a big negative impact on Taiwan’s credibility in the international community.

In making such a threat, Ma is either taking the public for fools, or he is fooling himself. Ma is in the habit of saying that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same country. If that is so, any cross-strait agreement must be a domestic “Chinese” affair, and in that case, what does it have to do with “credibility in the international community?”

Sinicization of textbooks panned

Taiwan Tati Cultural & Educational Foundation

Union of Taiwanese Teachers secretary-general Kuo Yen-lin, second right, Taiwan Association of University Professors vice president Shiu Wen-tang, third right, and others protest outside the Ministry of Education yesterday against a recent editorial in the Chinese-language United Daily News criticizing high school history textbooks for using the phrase “Japanese occupation period” when referring to the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan.
Photo: Chien Jung-feng, Taipei Times

Historians and civic groups yesterday warned about recent attempts to Sinicize the content of history textbooks in Taiwan, saying that if the Ministry of Education (MOE) compromises on the issue, students would be taught to adopt worldviews from the authoritarian era.

At separate press conferences, the groups and historians said several textbook publishers and media outlets’ call to change the term “Japan-governed period” to “Japanese occupation period” not only violates the current educational curriculum, adpproved in 2009, but also espouses a China-centric mindset.

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