Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

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.

Stop Taiwan’s traitorous Quisling

Parris Chang 張旭成

Today, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is electing its chairman and tens of thousands of its members have been mobilized to vote for the incumbent — President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Pundits liken the election to a mid-summer festival political farce, as Ma is the only candidate in the ballot, while another possible rival was disqualified on “technical” grounds, ensuring that Ma would be the winner.

Nonetheless, Ma has taken a month-long leave of absence from his presidential duties to campaign all around Taiwan to solicit votes from the KMT’s rank and file.

Proof of government corruption

Chin Heng-wei 金恆煒

Is President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government corrupt? To answer this question, one need not resort to opinion polls, since there are academics in Taiwan conducting specialized research into this question. Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) teaches a political economy course at National Taiwan University (NTU), and the study of corruption is one of the specializations offered. To gauge corruption levels, Chen takes daily media reports of corruption cases and uses various methods to come up with empirical results. Any one who wants to know whether the Ma administration is corrupt can always ask Chen.

Soldier’s death is a wake-up call

Taipei Times Editorial

As if the Ministry of National Defense did not already have enough on its plate as it makes the fitful transition to an all-volunteer military system, the death of a 23-year-old soldier under mysterious circumstances on July 4 risks making the task of attracting recruits all the more onerous.

Army Corporal Hung Chung-chiu’s (洪仲丘) death in Taoyuan, from what the public is told was heat stroke, is a stark reminder of the risks that come with a job in the armed forces, as well as of the culture of violence that exists in military establishments the world over.

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