Aboriginal and civic groups yesterday accused the government of conducting a “political witch hunt” with its pursuit of activists who spray-painted the Guangfu Township (光復) Office building in Hualien County to demand the restoration of Aboriginal names to tribal areas.
Early on Oct. 19, the Fa-Ta Alliance for Attack and Defense (馬太攻守聯盟), an Aboriginal group with members from the local Fataan and Tafalong communities in Hualien, painted graffiti on the facade of the office reading: “The land is the eternal nation” and “Whose restoration [(光復, guangfu)]? Names [of places] should be left to the master of the land,” along with the Aboriginal names of the two tribes.
Guangfu literally means “glorious restoration” or “glorious retrocession,” and is used by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime to refer to the takeover of Taiwan from the Japanese after World War II.
Photo courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ Policy
However, the Association for Taiwan Indigenous People’s Policy that organized yesterday’s rally said that local police and prosecutors have since that day been harassing members of the alliance, their supporters and other Aborigines with telephone calls and verbal threats, causing great stress to their families and friends.
The association and more than half a dozen civic groups at the protest in front of the National Police Agency office in Taipei accused the government of “state violence.”
Chen I-chen (陳以箴), an Aboriginal rights advocate from the Makatao community who participated in the spray-painting protest, apologized to her people for “failing to tear down the township office’s name plaque all together.”
Association executive chief Yapasuyongu Akuyana said that giving places their rightful Aboriginal names is a “duty” of the state, not a “favor.”
“Rectification of names of traditional Aboriginal regions is the first step toward transitional justice for Taiwanese Aborigines,” Yapasuyongu Akuyana said.
“The spray-painting action is not an individual case; it is a product of history, an action by Aborigines in pursuit of self-identity and to right their names in history,” association president Oto Micyang said.
Echoing Omi Wilang, secretary-general of the Indigenous Peoples’ Action Coalition Taiwan, who said that the name Guangfu was assigned to the town without a full discussion with local Aborigines, Restoration of Taiwan Social Justice (臺左維新) chief executive Lin Yu-lun (林于倫) called the protest “an act of cleansing, rather than vandalizing; to clean off the pollution generated by 60 years of state colonization.”
Taiwan Referendum Alliance convener Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) “confessed his sins” at the news conference, saying that as a non-Aboriginal Taiwanese, he is “an accomplice to the crime if name rectification is considered one.”
He added that in Canada, Aborigines are referred to as First Nations and Taiwan has from the outset belonged to Aborigines.
“This is not a crime of vandalism, but one of state officials’ dereliction of duty, for the Republic of China officials have failed to abide by the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民基本法),” he said.
Article 11 of the law stipulates that the government “shall restore the traditional names of indigenous tribes, rivers and mountains in indigenous peoples’ regions in accordance with the will of indigenous peoples.”
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS