Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/27
By: Esme Jiang and Kay Liu

Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) leads in Google’s chart of most searched politicians in Taiwan this year, while Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) garners the most online interests among presidential candidates, the search engine said Friday.

Ko, who also grabbed the top spot last year when he won the mayoral race, continues to attract online users’ attention, and the controversy surrounding a picture of a Japanese porn star being printed on the city’s transportation debit cards — known as EasyCards — earlier this year also kept him in the spotlight, Google said.

Developments leading up to the upcoming presidential and legislative elections, scheduled on Jan. 16, have been popular topics among users of Google’s search service, the company said.

In terms of online searches, Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who was briefly the presidential candidate of the ruling Kuomintang, came in second and she is followed by Tsai, who has been frequently searched since the DPP’s win in the location elections late last year.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-26
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Executive Yuan passed its draft act on the development of Aboriginal

EY passes draft act on Indigenous languages. Central News Agency

languages and called for its review and swift passage in the legislature to support the Indigenous Peoples Language Development Act, reports said Thursday.

The proposed bill would allow Taiwan’s indigenous languages to be announced through public address systems (PA system) in communities and townships where a large number of aborigines reside, including government district offices, tourist centers, museums, public streets and buses, and as such.

The move is seen as part of the government’s efforts to prevent Formosan languages from disappearing, the Executive Yuan said, citing that among the approximately 26 languages of the Taiwanese aborigines, at least 10 are facing extinction, another nine are moribund, and several others are to some degree endangered.

While mandarin Chinese continues to be the dominant language in Taiwan, the government has since started an aboriginal revitalizing program that includes the reintroduction of Formosan mother tongue education in local schools     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: November 25, 2015

An act aimed at protecting Taiwan’s underwater cultural heritage was passed Nov.

The Ministry of Culture is expected to ramp up its efforts to safeguard Taiwan’s submerged archaeological assets following the passage of a bill on protecting the nation’s underwater cultural heritage by the Legislature Nov. 24 in Taipei City. (Courtesy of MOC)

24 by the Legislature, underscoring the nation’s efforts to safeguard submerged archaeological assets, according to the Ministry of Culture.

Drafted by the ministry in line with the U.N. Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, the bill is Taiwan’s first legislation dedicated to furthering pursuits in this area, MOC Minister Hung Meng-chi said. He expects the act to help advance local research in maritime history while contributing to the increasingly important field of undersea archaeology.

“Given Taiwan’s prime location in some of the world’s most important waterways, the nation requires a comprehensive legal framework to ensure the preservation, protection and management of its rich undersea cultural heritage resources,” Hung said.

Comprising 44 articles in seven chapters, the Underwater Cultural Heritage Preservation Act specifies that any cultural resources found in Taiwan’s territorial waters, except for those from vessels and aircraft whose ownership is claimed by foreign countries, are to be designated as national heritage.     [FULL  STORY]