President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday unexpectedly visited a group of Aboriginal rights activists staging a protest on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, personally answering their questions and promising to help Aborigines to “be themselves.”
At a tent set up by the protesters the president sat down with the activists at about 3:30pm and chatted with them.
Mayaw Wutaw of the Amis, who traveled to Taipei from Pingtung County on foot and collected the thoughts of Aboriginal elders along the way, said that he did so because he wanted the president to know that the government’s repression of Aborigines is still ongoing, even though it may not be visible.
Photo: CNA
For example, many Aboriginal communities are banned from staying in their traditional domains and are penalized when trying to utilize resources in those domains, he said.
Amis singer-activist Panai Kusui told Tsai that the nation should embrace diversity.
“Those who live in the mountains should know the mountains and those who live by the ocean should know the ocean, but our education has trained us to become Han Chinese, we learned the Han culture and language, and lost our roots. We are standing up because we want to become who we are,” she said.
Responding to the complaints, Tsai said that perhaps her apology did not satisfy everyone, but she urged the activists to believe in her government’s determination.
Answering calls for the commission on Aboriginal transitional justice to have investigative powers, Tsai said that she would first set up the commission and then make amendments as required.
On calls for Aboriginal issues to be included in the bill on transitional justice, Tsai said that since there are many issues unique to Aborigines, it would not be suitable for that bill to include Aboriginal issues.
“I think we can only deal with Aboriginal issues when we have a separate law specifically targeting transitional justice issues for Aborigines,” Tsai said.
The conversation lasted for about half an hour and after the meeting Panai Kusui said that she felt Tsai was sincere, but she and her fellow activists would continue to monitor the government’s actions.
Mayaw Biho, former director of Taiwan Indigenous Peoples TV and an Amis activist, said that it is acceptable to have two separate laws on transitional justice, but the two mechanisms must operate simultaneously.
“Unless there is a passage of transitional justice legislation for Aborigines granting investigative powers to the commission, her apology is just fake,” he said at a news conference on Ketagalan Boulevard in the morning.
While Tsai has promised to personally head the commission, activists questioned her administration’s resolve to publicize past abuses and provide compensation, citing differences between the proposed Aboriginal transitional justice commission and a proposed transitional justice commission targeting Martial Law-era abuses.
Salone Ishahavut, a professor of indigenous development at National Chi Nan University and member of the Bunun, said that true transitional justice for Aborigines would require an official government investigation into past injustices to provide a foundation for affixing responsibility and settling accounts, including providing compensation and passing institutional reforms.
“Not only will the transitional justice commission [for Martial Law-era abuses] have a formal legal foundation, it will have a fixed budget, while the Aboriginal transitional justice commission’s budget will have to be appropriated ad hoc from existing budgetary items,” she said.
Aboriginal transitional justice commission members would work only part-time and without pay, while the Martial Law-era transitional justice commission would be full-time and paid, she added.
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
RSS