The Presidential Office’s committee for Aboriginal historic and transitional justice issues, which is due to hold its first meeting today, has not sufficiently researched the issues it is to discuss, an Aboriginal rights campaigners said yesterday.
There cannot be justice if the committee does not truly understand all of the facts, they said, adding that they are concerned the meeting will lead to little more than the chanting of slogans.
Criticizing the government’s failure to include private land within the scope of the legal definition of traditional Aboriginal territory, a group of campaigners has been staging a “sleepout” on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building since Feb. 23.
Photo: CNA
They yesterday reiterated their demands that the government retract the proposed Aboriginal land guidelines announced on Feb. 14 and called for the resignation of Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod.
Documentary filmmaker Mayaw Biho, an Amis, said the government should recognize that transitional justice is about reconciliation, adding that such reconciliation is impossible if the government has not properly investigated the issues.
The government has been idle in addressing Aboriginal issues, he said, noting that today’s meeting comes seven months after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made an apology to the nation’s Aborigines.
“Twelve very brave committee members initially submitted proposals for discussion related to traditional Aboriginal land, but all 12 later withdrew their proposals,” Indigenous Youth Front member Savungaz Valincinan said.
Tsai emphasized her support for Aboriginal land rights while she was campaigning for the presidency, National Dong Hwa University professor Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) said, adding that the private land excluded by the guidelines accounts for half of traditional Aboriginal land in the nation.
“The guidelines leave no room for Aborigines to even voice an opinion,” Shih said.
Biho concurred, adding: “Traditional land is very important to Aboriginal communities and with the guidelines they are going to lose a million hectares of land.”
He called on Tsai to review the issue carefully, adding that the protesters would continue their sleepout until the committee produces a more just proposal on Aboriginal land guidelines.
The committee spent four months waiting for each Aboriginal community to appoint their representatives to the committee meeting, Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Yao Jen-to (姚人多) said.
It is unfair to the committee for it to be judged as illegitimate or unrepresentative before it has the chance to meet, as well as not helpful in terms of establishing lines of communication, Yao said.
Transitional justice measures take time, Yao said.
While many have criticized the committee as being a “toothless tiger,” citing its lack of legal authority to conduct investigations, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kolas Yotaka, an Amis, yesterday said the committee’s investigation report would nevertheless have a great impact on transitional justice measures and history education.
Even though the committee does not have investigative authority that the police have, it can conduct research based on academic materials, government records and the oral history of Aboriginal communities.
Such research efforts have helped uncover 400 years of history of the Aborigines in Taiwan and would help carry out transitional justice measures related to Aboriginal communities, she said.
The results of the research should be collated and included in textbooks to tell a more inclusive history of the peoples of the nation, the lawmaker said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from