Taipei's Daguan residents were forcefully evicted without much response from the Tsai administration.
The News Lens
Date: 2019/08/13
By: Brian Hioe
Photo Credit: Reggie You
Daguan is a military dependents’ village nestled in Banqiao, a booming district in New Taipei City. Many Daguan residents are elderly and disabled, having lived there for decades. The Veteran’s Affairs Council (VAC), however, wanted to remove Daguan residents from the land, claiming that they were not the original occupants as some residents had purchased the land from the original owners. The VAC intended to impose fines upon Daguan residents for illegally appropriating government property.
After the demolition on August 1, it remains unknown where the Daguan residents will go next. Each household will receive some settlement from the government in the form of a lump sum of NT$360,000, but this can hardly compensate for the loss of homes that residents have occupied for most of their lives. Daguan residents continue to emphasize that they are not illegal residents of their community.
Evictions of the elderly residents from military dependents’ villages was a major social issue in the years before the 2014 Sunflower Movement. Such urban eviction cases have become less common after the high tide of student activism receded and the current Tsai administration took office.
Previous forced evictions like the Hua Kuang community in Taipei have been executed without a resolution or a concrete plan. Hua Kuang, which was demolished in 2013, remains a vacant grass field to date. [FULL STORY]
