Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Politicians dream the impossible

Ian Inkster

There are quite a lot of noisy politicians in Taiwan. However, there is not so much in the way of politics. Most of our politicians seem to desperately avoid spending any time in carving out policies that might work, be accomplished in a reasonable time and within a budget that does not inflate exponentially. In this way, they avoid debate over the content and funding of specific items. Perhaps they have been led to believe that cultivating the art of the possible is somehow beneath them or an unwelcome addition to their bag of tricks.

Self-immolations continue in Tibet: Two Tibetans set themselves ablaze in Ngaba

Phayul.com

DHARAMSHALA, January 6: Continuing the fiery episode of self-immolations in the new year, two Tibetans in Tibet set themselves on fire this afternoon.

According to information received from various sources, the incident happened at around 2:40 pm Tibet time in the distraught Ngaba region of eastern Tibet, which alone has seen ten cases of self-immolation since March last year.

Taiwan can’t afford Ma’s inaction

Jerome Keating

As Taiwan’s Jan. 14 presidential election approaches, one idea is becoming clearer and clearer: Taiwan cannot afford to waste another four years under Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as president. Despite measured hopes and claims, predictions on Taiwan’s GDP growth continue to fall; they have now dipped into the 3 percent bracket. This indicates that the so-called “Golden Decade” that Ma has adopted as his campaign slogan has already died, in the same way that his “6-3-3” promise, of 6 percent annual growth, annual per capita income of US$30,000 and an unemployment rate below 3 percent, never got off the blocks.

2012 ELECTIONS: Spying documents shredded: source

Taipei Times

The Ministry of Justice’ Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has ordered that all documents related to monitoring President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) opponents in the presidential election must be destroyed after the illegal practice was disclosed by the media, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, citing an anonymous source inside the bureau.

Documents provided by the source seem to confirm the existence of a project, codenamed “An-Ping-Shun Project,” to monitor DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and People First Party (PFP) candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜), DPP lawyer Hsu Kuo-yong (徐國勇) said at a DPP legislative caucus press conference.

More Articles...