Chinese names could be removed from indigenous IDs

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-20
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Indigenous citizens of Taiwan should no longer have to spell their names in Chinese characters on their ID, Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Kolas Yotaka said Saturday, on the eve of International Mother Language Day.

Since the 1990s, indigenous citizens have been allowed to add their names in Romanized spelling on the ID documents, but a version in Chinese characters remained obligatory.

Kolas Yotaka said Saturday she had proposed a piece of legislation to abolish the latter requirement. The change would also have an impact on elections, where indigenous candidates would be able to have bilingual texts about their policies and proposals written on official election documents sent to every voter.     [FULL  STORY]