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One Year On: Society - Aboriginal autonomy remains far from certain

By Chuang Chi-ting
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, May 20, 2001, Page 21

Though Taiwan's Aboriginal communities are more optimistic than ever that they will be granted autonomy, few believe any serious changes will come about before Chen Shui-bian's tenure expires. FILE PHOTO

Granting autonomy to Taiwan's Aboriginals has been widely recognized as the only way to guarantee the long-term survival of their culture and to protect them from losing their identity and resources.

"We used to seek resolutions to our plight through legislation or offering suggestions to the government. Yet we were never given a chance to participate in the decision-making process nor implementation of polices that were supposed to help us," said Isak Afo, a former Aboriginal rights activists and member of the Council of Aboriginal Affairs.

Yohani Isqaqavut, the council's chairman, said that through discussing proposals for autonomy, Aboriginals would become more aware of their identity and the steps they can take to ensure the survival of their cultures. "Our people will finally be able stand up rather than remaining a burden to the state. Given administrative rights to the natural resources in our territory, we can also help protect the environment."

The transfer of political power from the KMT to the DPP last year has been viewed by observers as giving a boost to Aboriginal rights.

The DPP government seems more open to Aboriginal requests for autonomy than the KMT regime, analysts point out. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) signed a New Partnership Treaty Between the Indigenous Peoples and Government of Taiwan (原住民族和台灣政府新夥伴關係條約) while on the campaign trail last year, a document that was a de facto call for Aboriginal autonomy.

"Of course we were very happy with Chen's endorsement," said Isak Afo. "It shows a totally different attitude from the long standing Han discrimination [of the KMT]."

As a pro-autonomy activist, Yohani Isqaqavut's being invited to lead the council was seen a nod from Chen in favor of autonomy. Promoting autonomy has since become Yohani Isqaqavut's major task. The council's draft of the Autonomy Law has been sent to Aboriginal groups and villages throughout Taiwan for discussion before being finalized and sent to the Cabinet for approval.

Yohani Isqaqavut is optimistic about advancing the autonomy cause. "Hopefully within the next three years we will have the draft passed by the legislature and at least one special administrative region set up."

Yet there are many stumbling blocks ahead on the road to autonomy, and few think it will be achieved before the end of Chen's tenure.

Aboriginal leaders and activists believe that the KMT regime's policy of suppressing the autonomy movement has left behind a deeply entrenched fear of discussing the issue in Aboriginal communities.

Isak Afo and Kysul Lousu, another member of the council, said the KMT was very successful at eliminating the Aboriginal elite during the martial law era, which came as a serious blow for the autonomy movement. Both activists were once accused of sedition by the KMT.

Omi Wilang, a former activist and council member, said fear of prosecution was an effective way to intimidate people into staying away from the autonomy issue. The government even recruited Aboriginals to serve as functionaries, "to learn to be grateful for and obedient to the state," Omi Wilang added.

"My people used to be defiant," said Voyu Yakumangana, a Tsou Aboriginal and executive director of the Association for Taiwan Indigenous People's Policies. "Now even a wild pig is braver than us -- we dare not to even howl before being killed."

Voyu Yakumangana and Omi Wilang said the KMT's strategy of enlisting Aboriginals to administer areas populated by indigenous people greatly consolidated the KMT's control. "Aboriginals have split views about the KMT, who gave with one hand and took away with the other ? It created divisions and weakened our efforts to push for autonomy by appealing to a common sense of suffering," said Voyu Yakumangana.

In addition, Omi Wilang said the former regime, by implementing elections, further divided ethnic groups into political factions. "The KMT, and now most other political parties, enticed influential Aboriginals into joining up to garner votes for the party ... That has really made communities fall apart."

Money has also been used to win over Aboriginals, especially when most of Taiwan's indigenous people live hand to mouth due to a lack of land and other natural resources as well as restraints placed on their economic activities by the Han administration, activist Kysul Lousu said.

Some leading Aboriginals are expected to reject autonomy to avoid the redistribution of power and resources, he added. Many Aboriginals are lukewarm on autonomy proposals because they are more concerned with day-to-day issues than the future survival of their culture, Kysul Lousu said.

People's suspicions are deepened by distrust in government policies that "have brought nothing but laws cutting off people's livelihoods, such as being banned from gathering natural resources contained within national parks that are ancestral lands," he added.

"Our people have been taught to beg for small concessions from the government rather than fighting for our right to self-determination," said the activist.

Religious factionalism has also prevented full cooperation between Aboriginals in the struggle for autonomy, said Omi Wilang. The Presbyterian Church is seen as pro-independent and is thus treated with distain by churches established by pro-unification conservatives.

Many pro-autonomy Aboriginals also fear that government officials might oppose releasing resources currently under their control, such as land in national parks.

Some local governments that rely on tax revenues from tourism that centers around Aboriginal culture may also object to the separating of Aboriginal areas from their administration.

How much support the Cabinet will give the Autonomy Law is thus a moot point.

However, the draft faces its toughest challenge when it is finally sent to the legislature for approval.

Aboriginal autonomy will inevitably require the return of some land now held by the central and local governments to the control of Taiwan's indigenous people.

This land includes many areas that are occupied by non-Aboriginals.

The conflict between the pro-autonomy camp and the powerful and highly-influential non-Aborigine Rights Promotion Association (平權會) is expected to "explode and turn very ugly," according to Isak Afo. The association has chapters all over the country, is represented in numerous government offices and supported by lawmakers from across the political spectrum, including the DPP.

The association openly believes that "the Han are the only Aboriginal group in Taiwan."

The association, which has been pressuring the government to lift regulations prohibiting the sale of land in Aboriginal areas to non-Aboriginals, is accused by activists of attempting to snatch land on behalf of big corporations.

The move toward Aboriginal autonomy is on the move, however, despite all the obstacles that stand in the way. "In any case, the grassroots movement cannot be stopped as it is the only way to exert pressure to ensure we get the autonomy we have been fighting for," said Voyu Yakumangana.
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