Year in review: Top 10 issues of 2011

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3124 Edition

January 9-15, 2012

Headline News

Year in review: Top 10 issues of 2011 

Written by staff reporters

Summarized and translated by Lydia Ma

 

The year 2011 was a challenging and tumultuous year for Taiwan. Taiwan Church 
News has taken a thematic approach in reviewing major events that made the news 
in 2011. Here, in no particular order, is our list of top 10 issues that made 
news in 2011 and their related stories.

 

1.       Human rights and Judicial Reform

l   The wrongful execution of air force serviceman Chiang Kuo-ching and the 
wrongful detention of death row inmate Chiu Ho-shun sparked outrage in Taiwan. 
Judicial reform advocacy groups accused the judiciary of not examining the 
facts carefully enough and executing innocent people due to deadlines imposed 
by the Criminal Appropriate And Speedy Trail Law.

 

2.       Socio-economic Welfare 

l   Soaring inflation and unemployment: As result of soaring inflation and 
unemployment since 2008, many credit card debtors are unable to pay their dues. 
Revision of the Consumer Debt Clearance Act to help the nation’s 850,000 credit 
card debtors when they are trying to clear their debts is criticized because of 
the low approval rate of debtors’ application for debt repayment.  

l   Poverty: the Ma administration’s use of dispatch and temporary work, and 
other non-conventional forms of employment, has left many recent graduates 
without employment, adding a new subgroup of poor people in society. 

l   Outreach to the homeless: More churches minister to the homeless, including 
serving hot food and year-end banquets. Their ministries provide a stark 
contrast to Taipei City, which resorted to spraying water on homeless people 
staying overnight at a park in Wanhua District as a means to disperse them.

l   Plasticizer food scandal: On May 23, news broke about the illegal use of 
plasticizer (DEHP) in food by several Taiwanese manufacturers over the years. 
The incident engulfed Taiwan in a national food crisis with international 
repercussions.

 

3.       Land rights 

l   Aboriginal groups’ rights to their traditional domain are increasingly 
imperiled with the passage of legislations such as the “East Coast Development 
Act” and the illegal building of Meiliwan Resort Hotel at Shanyuan Bay. These 
two examples are instances of collusion between governments and corporations 
through “build-operate-transfer” (BOT) deals. 

 

4.       Earthquake in Japan and PCT response

l   The March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that damaged nuclear plants 
in Fukushima, Japan caused massive deaths and damages. PCT General Assembly and 
local churches sprang to action to help Japan in the aftermath of these 
disasters by sending aid. Various PCT delegations also visited and helped in 
disaster areas in Japan through partnership with local churches in Japan.

l   In the days following the tsunami, nuclear radiation leaks at the Fukushima 
plants prompted worldwide concern on the viability of nuclear energy. 
Opposition to nuclear energy and nuclear plants rose across in Taiwan as well.

l   Indigenous groups in Taitung stage a mass rally on June 4 to voice their 
opposition to storing nuclear wastes near their village, Daren Township, in 
exchange for economic incentives. 

l   PCT organizes 23 symposiums across Taiwan as part of its “One-leads-One, 
New Doubling Movement” to increase public awareness within the church about the 
perils of nuclear energy plants in Taiwan. These symposiums will continue in 
2012.

 

5.       Gender justice and Gender Equality in Education

l   Whether homosexual groups should be granted the same rights as others 
became a subject of debate in a few churches, especially when the Ministry of 
Education mulled over whether to include sexual orientation and gay education 
into public schools in light of bullying in schools and suicides as result of 
mistreatment due to sexual orientation. 

l   A petition spearheaded by Chen Ai Alliance, a parents group, sought to 
block the release of 3 reference books that contain gender and sexual diversity 
teaching materials for teachers in elementary and junior high schools. With 
help from several legislators, the group successfully pressed the Ministry of 
Education to suspend the distribution of the books.   

l   Gender and activist groups including the Gender/Sexuality Rights 
Association in Taiwan and Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association responded 
by taking the case to court, saying that Chen Ai Alliance had twisted the 
content of the teaching materials and inaccurately presented the number of 
petition signatures they had garnered.

l   Within the PCT, it was decided at last year’s General Assembly Annual 
Convention that a small committee with 6 pastors would be created to study this 
matter before a decision is taken by the PCT.

 

6.       Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

l   The creation of five special municipalities (Kaohsiung, New Taipei, 
Taichung, Tainan, and Taipei cities) at the end of 2010 threatens the rights of 
indigenous groups as several indigenous townships are downgraded into 
“districts” with assigned leaders instead of having elected leaders in 2011.

l   Members of Atayal Presbytery shot arrows at the ROC flag on January 1 to 
voice their outrage at how the ROC government had oppressed them over the years 
and also posted a list containing 100 accusations of infringement of their 
rights.

l   The Ma administration’s version of Aboriginal Autonomy Act is criticized 
for being an empty promise because existing laws on hunting and wild-life 
protection would overrule this act. Indigenous groups said the act was a far 
cry from Aboriginal Basic Act and staged various protests in Taipei.

 

7.       Reemergence of Mother Language Education

l   An alliance of organizations promoting Taiwanese language appealed to the 
government to increase the number of hours mother languages are taught in 
public schools. They urged that Taiwanese classes be increased to 3 classes per 
week and considered mandatory in junior and senior high schools and college 
curricula.

l   “Collection of Literary Works in Romanized Taiwanese” was published and 
unveiled on December 16. The collection contains selected articles from Taiwan 
Church News published between the years 1885 and 1920. This new collection aims 
to uncover the development of contemporary Taiwanese literature.

 

8.       National Sovereignty

l   2011 marked the 40th anniversary since the PCT issued its “Statement on our 
National Fate”. To mark this occasion, the PCT organized various conventions 
throughout Taiwan, including a youth summit discussing this statement.

l   In view of the 2012 elections and the 40th anniversary of the PCT 
statement, a new statement addressing various national issues and offering 
advice for the January 14, 2012 presidential and legislative elections was 
issued by the PCT General Assembly via Taiwan Church News in early December.

l   A few days later, more than 300 PCT pastors from across Taiwan donned in 
their uniforms attended a prayer rally for Taiwan on Ketagalan Boulevard, just 
outside of the Presidential Palace.

 

9.       Christians in the Film Industry

l   Seediq Bale, a film produced by renowned director Wei Te-sheng and starring 
Rev. Nolay Biho, becomes a sensation at the box office and wins the Golden 
Horse Film Award.

l   A Gift for Father’s Day also reminds the nation of the enormous loss and 
tragedy incurred by many people during Typhoon Morakot. The film focuses on the 
tragedy of Hsiaolin Village. The village was buried and wiped out by landslides 
during Typhoon Morakot, resulting in mass casualties.

l   Hand in Hand, a documentary chronicling the romance and life of Tien 
Meng-shu and Tien Chao-ming, parents of DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-Chin and 
elders of Yikuang Presbyterian Church. The film received a nod for its 
chronicling of Taiwanese democracy during Martial Law.

   

10.    “Lift Up My Eyes to the Hills” Prayer Movement 

l   This PCT prayer movement focused on environmental issues last year as news 
of a new Naphtha cracker plant to be built near wetlands in Changhua and the 
construction of a highway across Alangyi Ancient Trail surfaced across Taiwan.

l   Due to strong opposition and pressure from environmental groups and locals, 
the Ma administration finally looked into the matter and rescinded the project 
after reviewing environmental evaluations. Upon hearing this news, the PCT held 
a prayer meeting to celebrate, but the symposium will likely continue into 2012.



********************

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages. 

You may translate and re-use our articles online only if you acknowledge the 
source as "Taiwan Church News" and list the names of the reporter and writer. 
Contact us before reprinting any of our articles for print publications. 

Direct comments and questions about this article to: enews@pctpress.org

Visit our website for more news at: http://enews.pctpress.org/ (English) or 
http://www.tcnn.org (Chinese)

********************