【Taipei Times】Groups call for public Hoklo TV

A coalition of civic groups yesterday urged the government to establish a Hoklo-language (also known as Taiwanese) public television station to promote local culture and native language instruction.

Thirty-four groups led by the Taiwan Citizen Participation Association and the Taiwan Society called on the government not to ignore repeated calls for a station dedicated to Hoklo language and culture.

Although Hoklo is spoken by the majority of Taiwanese, the dominant media language is Mandarin, which hinders the development of Hoklo, Hakka and Aboriginal languages, the groups said.

While it is legitimate to prioritize the preservation of Hakka and Aboriginal languages with specialized media, the nation is gradually losing its Hoklo heritage and the language should also be protected, they said.

Although Hoklo is spoken by 81.9 percent of Taiwanese, there are no laws, independent government agency or television station dedicated to the language’s development, association chairman Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said.

Taiwanese who speak Aboriginal languages account for 1.4 percent of the total population, and their languages are protected by the Aboriginal Language Development Act (原住民族語言發展法), the Council of Indigenous Peoples and Taiwan Indigenous TV, Ho said.

Hakka-speaking Taiwanese account for 6.6 percent of the population, and their culture is promoted by the Hakka Basic Act (客家基本法), the Hakka Affairs Council and Hakka TV, he added.

“Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) under the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] administration expressed a vision for a Hoklo-language station. Why does the Democratic Progressive Party government not dare to say the same?” singer Chen Ming-chang (陳明章) said.

“Laws or budgets are not the problem — the problem is a [lack of] resolve,” Chen said.

Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) had announced that a Hoklo-language radio station would be established.

However, she has not made any clear statement responding to calls for the establishment of a Hoklo TV station, Chen said, criticizing the government’s passivity over the issue.

Taiwan Society vice president Tiunn Hok-chu (張復聚), who is also a physician, said many patients can only speak Hoklo, and doctors should speak to patients in their native languages to ensure high-quality communication and treatment.

Taiwanese below the age of 40 can usually understand Hoklo, but do not speak the language, and it is feared that later generations would not even be able to understand it, he said.

“We are all culpable if our native language disappears after 30 years,” Tiunn said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2017/06/19/2003672855

【Taipei Times】 NewsTCPA protests stalled ‘citizen cafe’ projects

The Taiwan Citizen Participation Association (TCPA) yesterday staged a demonstration in front of the Taipei City Hall, with its members smashing coffee cups to protest what they said was stalling progress on “citizen cafe” projects, which had been among Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) campaign promises in the 2014 mayoral election.

Association director-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said Ko had formulated 51 projects, which his “civic advisers” proposed during the campaign, and promised to designate the city’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission to monitor their progress.

Ko later narrowed down the number of projects to 10 and appointed Department of Social Welfare Commissioner Hsu Li-min (許立民) to streamline interdepartmental effort on those projects, of which only five were being worked on, Ho said.

The demonstrators shattered four coffee cups to protest four stalled projects: the establishment of a database of rare and precious trees by the Department of Urban Development and Department of Cultural Affairs; the restoration of ancient irrigation canals and fountains by the Department of Public Works; the construction of the Changshu Overpass by Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基); and the deployment of Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), Aboriginal and Hakka counters at the city’s public libraries, assigned to the Department of Education.

However, they also lauded agencies with projects that have yielded substantial results by proposing toasts to one another.

These include the classification of parks according to their biodiversity, performed by the Parks and Street Lights Office; the establishment of a senate comprising retired people aged 55 or above to provide consultation on city policies, carried out by the Department of Social Welfare; the diversification of the city’s mediation committees, executed by the Department of Civil Affairs; and the commission’s launch of the i-Voting online polling platform and the “Democratic Alarm Clock” app aimed at tracking efforts by politicians to deliver on their campaign promises.

Progress on a project being worked on by the Department of Labor to create new job models for mentally and physically challenged residents remained to be seen, as public hearings are still being held to gather opinions on the project, the demonstrators said.

Ho said Hsu has done a satisfactory job in implementing the project undertaken by his agency, but that communication was lacking between him and other agencies.

Ho urged Ko to “tighten the screws” of the city government and honor his campaign promises soon.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/09/08/2003654726

台灣公民參與協會成立大會 何宗勳為首任理事長

【新聞稿】台灣公民參與協會成立 何宗勳為首任理事長

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理事長 何宗勳



一群台灣中堅NGO工作者，經過一年籌劃，12月27日大選前夕假台北市NGO會館成立《台灣公民參與協會》（簡稱：公民會），首任理事長由何宗勳擔任，陳明里擔任秘書長，紀政並擔任名譽理事長。成立大會在高唱《公民會會歌》中揭開序幕。

召開第一屆第二次理監事會議／內政部證書來了

台灣公民參與協會五月三日（二）晚上七點召開「第一屆第二次理監事會」，全體理監事出席非常踴躍。會中做成多項決議；一、通過許慧盈副秘書長案。二、年底舉辦第一屆台灣公民參與全國年會。三、舉辦國際NGO短期交流計劃。四、利用一年調查台灣中央與地方公民參與情況，評估是否推公民參與法。五、九月美國公民參與考察。六、尋覓新的辦公室。七、年底前招募100位年繳2,000贊助會員。