Miao Poya

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Miao.

Miao Poya
Taipei City Councilor
Assumed office
25 December 2018
ConstituencyTaipei City District 6
(serving Daan-Wenshan)
Personal details
Born (1987-10-02) 2 October 1987 (age 36)
Muzha District, Taiwan
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Alma materNational Taiwan University
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese苗博雅
Simplified Chinese苗博雅

Miao Poya (Chinese: 苗博雅; pinyin: Miáo Bóyǎ; Wade–Giles: Miao2 Po2-ya3; born 2 October 1987) is a Taiwanese politician and activist for humanitarianism, anti-death penalty, social feminism, LGBT rights and Taiwanese independence,[1][2] also known for being one of Taiwan's first-ever openly lesbian council members. She was elected as councillor representing Taipei City District 6 during the 2018 local elections.

Early life and education[edit]

Miao was born as a second generation in a waisheng family at the time when the long Martial Law period ended in 1987,[1] and grew up in Wenshan District, Taipei.[3] She attended Jingxin Elementary and Middle School and Taipei First Girls' High School.[3] While a high school student, Miao was elected class president and successfully campaigned for a change in the seasonal uniform policy, so students could wear trousers all year round instead of having to wear a skirt in the summer.[4] Miao studied law at National Taiwan University, where she began developing her political views away from her pro-government family.[3][5]

Social activism and political career[edit]

After university, Miao worked for a law firm dealing with cases from tech start-ups and then as a social movement worker in the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, having encountered the topic of the death penalty many times in high school debate competitions.[3][5]

Miao first ran for office in the 2016 Taiwanese legislative elections, after having joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) during its formation, and with the support of the SDP's founder Fan Yun [zh]. She failed to win, but gained 12.1% of the vote (21,000 votes) and was the most successful non-Blue and non-Green candidate.[5][6]

Miao ran for city councilor in the 2018 Taiwanese local elections, again representing the SDP. Issues she advocated for include the protections for workers, the care for children and the elderly, and Taiwanese sovereignty and independence.[6][7] She was elected, and thus became one of Taiwan's first openly lesbian council members, alongside Lin Ying-meng of the New Power Party.[8][9]

Miao's candidacy for Taipei 6 in the 2024 legislative election was backed by the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Progressive Party.[10]

Miao was one of the activists who proposed a referendum in favor of same-sex marriage in Taiwan,[11] and sympathizes with the democracy, freedom and human rights concern in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Tibet.[12][13][14]

Legacy[edit]

Supporting the languages development act[edit]

See also: Language policy in Taiwan during martial law

The 2018 Development of National Languages Act stipulates the government agencies to provide interpretation services when citizens participating in administrative, legislative, and judicial procedures can freely choose to use their national languages,[15] so the Legislative Yuan activated the interpreter service for the parliament session in real time accordingly.[16] On 27 September 2021, after following the steps to apply in advance with 3 Taiwanese interpreters been present ready,[17] Legislator, Chen Po-wei of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party proceeded his scheduled questioning in Taiwanese during the session of Foreign and National Defense Committee.[18][19] Ministrer of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng rejected to speak Taiwanese, nor accepted the interpreter's real-time service at site, but brought the deputy minister Zong-hsiao Li as his own interpreter, and insisted in the 3-way translation pattern sentence by sentence.[17] Chiu repeatedly interrupted the question process by asking Chen to speak Mandarin Chinese for easier communication, or the session time cannot be lengthened to accommodate the interpretation,[18][19] but Li is not a linguistic professional, hence his translation contains contextual errors,[18][19][17] so Chairman Chen I-hsin intervened when the argument occurred, and introduced the existing synchronized interpretation in progress as the solution same as the common conference practice in the other countries; but Chiu never picked up the earset, yet insisted his way till the session run out of time.[18][19] Chen later apologized to the public for the good intention of practicing the national language law being turned into a linguistic communication tragedy, and condemned Chiu for "bullying" (鴨霸), but Chiu denied the allegation and claimed that a language is a tool of communication.[17] The parliamentary interpretation service were temporarily suspended afterwards pending on better communication in the future - consequently the parliament members and media editorials such as Kuan Bi-ling and Taipei Times commented that Language is not just a tool of communication as Chiu said, but also an identity of feelings and culture.[20] Miao also explained that the multi-lingual working environment is essential for a healthy mind without the "Mandarin Supremacy" (華語至上) attitude to achieve the international level in diversity, equality and mutual respect for a modern state.[17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Chien, Amy Chang (8 March 2018). "「我們這種怪咖」：台灣太陽花世代的政治新血" [The New Blood in Politics of Taiwan's Sunflower Movement Generation: "We Are Special"] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: New York Times, Chinese News Network. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  2. ^ Hioe, Brian (18 March 2019). "Second Annual Women's March Held in Taipei". Taipei: New Bloom Magazine. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Chen, Ella (4 December 2015). "Interview: Miao Poya (苗博雅)". New Bloom Magazine. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  4. ^ "【摻政治】當年小綠拒穿裙~苗博雅想翻轉立院" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 17 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  5. ^ a b c Hioe, Brian (24 July 2018). "Interview: Miao Poya (苗博雅)". New Bloom Magazine. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  6. ^ a b Hioe, Brian (25 November 2018). "NPP Defies Expectations With Sixteen City Council Seats, SDP Takes One Seat". New Bloom Magazine. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  7. ^ Fifield, Anna (26 December 2019). "Taiwan's 'born independent' millennials are becoming Xi Jinping's lost generation". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  8. ^ Glauert, Rik (25 November 2018). "Taiwan elects first openly-lesbian local council members". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  9. ^ Yang, Sophia (25 November 2018). "Taiwan to see first-ever openly lesbian council members". Taiwan News. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  10. ^ Yeh, Su-ping; Kao, Evelyn (14 June 2023). "ELECTION 2024/DPP agrees to back SDP's Miao Po-ya in Taipei's 6th electoral district". Central News Agency. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Hundreds of thousands attend pride march amid Taiwan's gay marriage debate". NBC News. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  12. ^ Hioe, Brian (5 June 2017). "28th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre Commemorated in Liberty Plaza". Taipei: New Bloom Magazine. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  13. ^ Hioe, Brian (26 November 2021). "Fate of the Apple Daily Taiwan in the Air, as Hong Kong Court Liquidator Attempts to Seize Newspaper Assets". Taipei: New Bloom Magazine. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  14. ^ Hioe, Brian; Chang, Sharon (10 March 2021). "62nd Anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Dau Commemorated in Taipei with March, Prayer Ceremony". Taipei: New Bloom Magazine. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  15. ^ Ministry of Culture (11 January 2019). "Development of National Languages Act". Taipei. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  16. ^ "National languages development act passed by Legislature". Taiwan Today. Taipei. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  17. ^ a b c d e Li, Bing-fang (28 September 2021). "陳柏惟台語質詢和邱國正起衝突，道歉嘆「喜事變悲劇」，立院將暫緩執行通譯服務加強溝通" [Bo-wei Chen questioned Kuo-Cheng Chiu in Taiwanese, and sighed after the conflict: "A happy event turned into a tragedy" - the Legislative Yuan will suspend the interpretation service and improve the communication] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: The News Lens. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  18. ^ a b c d Chen Po-wei; Chiu Kuo-cheng (27 September 2021). "會議隨選" [Meeting Recording Selection] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: Multi-media Selection Video System, Meeting Broadcast IVOD Network, Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  19. ^ a b c d Chen Po-wei; Chiu Kuo-cheng (27 September 2021). ""立法院公報第100卷第75期委員會紀錄-立法院第10屆第4會期外交及國防委員會第2次全體委員會議紀錄" [The Second Committee Meeting Minute, Foreign and National Defense Committee, Fourth Session, Tenth period, Gazette of the Legislative] (PDF) (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: Gazette of the Legislative Yuan, Vol. 100, Issue 75. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  20. ^ "EDITORIAL: Language is not just a tool". Taipei Times. Taipei. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
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