‘What is stopping people from launching startups is not failure, but the fear of failing.’

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/12
By: Mo Tz-pin

The National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) on Sept. 10 held their second annual XFail

Conference, inviting four Taiwanese entrepreneurs to share their experiences launching startups. The conference, however, did not aim to share keys to success, but focused instead on their past failures.

XFail encourages audiences to learn from the speakers’ failed experiences, and also lets the speakers face and reflect on their past failures by sharing them with the public.

“What is stopping people from launching startups is not failure, but the fear of failing,” said Chao Shih-lung (趙式隆), one of the founders of XFail.

Tahan Lin (林大涵), founder of startup crowdfunding platform Backer-Founder, was fired from a former company he founded because he insisted on standing by his ideas. Taiwan Venture Capital Association Secretary General Clark Su (蘇拾忠) lost more than NT$80 million (US$2.6 million) when he attempted to launch an online music streaming service and failed back in 2008.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-12
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A retired teacher has been collecting online support in an effort to push for legalization of euthanasia in Taiwan, urging people to ink their support to force the government to respond to the issue.

A proposal to legalize euthanasia in Taiwan has been approved by the public policy online participation platform under the National Development Council. The proposal was initiated by Lai Tai-sheng, a retired teacher from National Chiayi Industrial Vocational High School.

Lai said he had seen many terminal cancer patients receiving futile medical care, resulting in more suffering of the patients in their final stages of life and more struggle of their family members to take care of their loved ones, and therefore he advocates legalization of euthanasia.

There are countless arguments and theories on the pros and cons of euthanasia, and each one seems to be reasonable, Lai said, adding that however, he believes no one would hope to end a family member’s life in a normal situation. People for euthanasia say it would give terminally ill patients relief, while those against it say life is sacred and inviolable, he said     [FULL  STORY]

A female Indonesian worker recorded video of herself being sexually assaulted by her Taiwanese employer and turned to Indonesian media for help after her employment agency in Taiwan ignored her case.

 

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/10
By: ZiQing Low

A female Indonesian worker in Taichung, central Taiwan, who was being sexually assaulted by her

employer reached out to Indonesian media after her employment agency in Taiwan ignored her complaints.

The worker filmed her assault with her cellphone and brought it to her employment agency, but the latter told her to report the case to the police herself, according to Indonesian media Suarabmi.

The video, which lasts more than five minutes, was also uploaded to YouTube but has since been taken down.

Police in Taichung took the worker into custody on Sept. 9 to provide further evidence. Apple Daily reports that the worker told police the last time she was assaulted was on July 30.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-11
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

As the Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner, Tainan City Government recommends people to take a camping trip to the Hutoupi Scenic Area in Tainan and barbecue in its beautiful surroundings during the long holiday.

The city government’s Tourism Bureau said camping has become a popular way to travel in Taiwan in recent years, and the Hutoupi campsite underwent an overhaul in 2009 to cater to the trend. The campgrounds are divided into three categories–wooden pallets, boarding houses and camping car spaces, and there are two big weather shelters on the campsite, the bureau said. Hutoupi Lake was ranked fourth by the Dailyview website in its list of Taiwan’s top 10 campsites.

Hutoupi, established in 1846 and nicknamed “Little Sun Moon Lake, was the first reservoir in Taiwan and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in southern Taiwan. The road around the lake is 4.8 kilometers in length. Walking paths that go around and traverse the lake are flanked by golden shower trees and acacia trees.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/11
By: Hao Hsueh-chin, Elaine Hou and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 11 (CNA) Taichung prosecutors on Sunday filed a motion with a local court to detain a

Taiwanese man who was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting an Indonesian caregiver employed in his home in Taichung.

The man, surnamed Hsieh, was arrested by Taichung police in the earlier hours of Sunday and was referred to Taichung prosecutors, according to police.

After questioning the suspect, prosecutors filed a court motion for his detention, on the grounds that he posed a flight risk, police said.

Taichung prosecutors had issued an order for the arrest of the Taiwanese man Saturday after interviewing the alleged victim.     [FULL  STORY]

VICIOUS CYCLE:The nation is entrenched in a tourism pattern that offers low-quality and low-profit package tours to Chinese visitors, former TSU legislator Chou Ni-an said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 12, 2016
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) members yesterday condemned China for manipulating the tourism

market in a bid to coerce Taiwan ahead of a planned protest by travel operators today, saying the tourism industry needs to reform and break away from overdependence on China.

China has restricted tourism to Taiwan as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration refuses to accept the so-called “1992 consensus,” which is part of China’s attempt to annex Taiwan by economic coercion, TSU Youth Department deputy director Hsu Ya-chi (許亞齊) said.

The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.

“Taiwan’s tourism industry, as well as other industries, has to diversify its client base and seek international customers to escape overreliance on the Chinese market and hostile political manipulation,” Hsu said.     [FULL  STORY]

ABOUT-FACE:Former National Palace Museum director Feng Ming-chu referred to the establishment as the ‘Taipei’ museum after accepting a job at a Beijing museum

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 11, 2016
By: Yang Yuan-ting and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Former National Palace Museum director Feng Ming-chu’s (馮明珠) decision to change regulations to

reduce the time period during which retired museum officials are barred from visiting China after leaving their posts was an “autonomous violation of regulations,” the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday.

The council issued a statement after a meeting with government agencies, and the museum is expected to repeal the change and reinstate the original waiting period.

In accordance with the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the museum required its former staff to seek approval from a review committee consisting of officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Security Bureau and the council before visiting China within three years of leaving government service.

However, according to the museum’s internal documents, Feng signed an official document on April 15 asking that the threshold be reduced to “within one year of leaving government service” and sent it to the National Immigration Agency on May 4.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-10
By: Wendy Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

In response to the tourism industry demonstration that will take place next Monday, traffic restrictions

will be imposed on the day starting at 2 p.m. along the route of the demonstration, Taipei Police Department announced Saturday.

Around 10,000 people working in the country’s tourism industry will take to the street in Taipei on September 12, to protest against the recent sharp drop in the number of tourists to Taiwan.

It will be the first ever demonstration from the nation’s tourism sector, in which as much as 11 tourism-related associations will participate, including hotels, travel agencies, tour buses, tour guides, and shopping malls.

According to government data, the number of tourists visiting Taiwan on group tours has declined by 30 percent from last year over the three months since May, mainly due to the dramatic drop in the number of travelers from China.     [FULL  STORY]