Two years ago, when Watan, a member of the Saejiq tribe, paid a visit to his home in Nantou, he noted that his fellow tribal people faced high unemployment and a lack of readily available medical services.
Last week, when he made another visit home, much of what he saw remained the same: "many people in the tribe don't have a job."
Alui, a member of the Paiwan tribe, echoed Watan's remark, adding that when tribal elders need to go to clinics, "they often end up paying more for their taxi ride than for their clinical fee.
"Why? Because clinics are not as available as they are in the city, often forcing tribal people to travel far to get medical service," she said.
Two years into President Chen Shui-bian's (
And they are not alone in their view, as representatives from the nation's 10 recognized tribes on Sunday stood united in reminding Chen to realize his election promise of elevating Aborigines' social welfare.
Held on the eve of Chen's two-year anniversary in office, the 10 Aboriginal representatives on Sunday attended a symposium held jointly by Tsay Chung-han (
The symposium was held to review Chen's performance on Aboriginal welfare.
The 10 recognized Aboriginal tribes in Taiwan are the Atayal, Yami, Paiwan, Bunun, Puyuma, Thao, Rukai, Saisiat, Tsou and Amis. The Amis is the nation's largest tribe with 150,000 members. There are approximately 400,000 Aborigines in Taiwan, comprising about 1.65 percent of Taiwan's 23 million people.
Outstanding issues
"After [Chen's] two years in office, issues that have troubled us remain a problem and issues concerning Aboriginal rights and interests remain stagnant as usual," said Chang Cheng-hsin (
"As far as we can tell," Tsay said, "President Chen has failed to realize most of the promises he made in his 2000 Aboriginal Policy White Paper."
According to Tsay, the White Paper stated that Chen would work to promote Aborigines' rights such as self-government, political participation, development, land ownership, education and social welfare.
"Yet what happened over these past two years was far short of what Chen promised," he added.
For example, Chang said, the Chen administration has failed to keep its word in protecting Aborigines' environment.
According to Chang, the Bureau of Mines, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, had last year granted the mining industry permission to exploit marble resources in Pingtung County's Shiaokuei Lake, a site considered holy ancestral ground by the Rukai tribe.
"And the area nearby it was also designated by the government as a Natural Reservation Zone, which, in other words, has cut off tribal people's livelihoods by banning them from gathering natural resources contained within their ancestral lands," Chang said.
"Based on that, we really don't see how genuine President Chen is about his talk on respecting Aborigines' rights to their land," he said.
Lee Lai-wan (
Lee said that, compared with the rest of Taiwan, most of the nation's Aborigines continue to suffer high unemployment and lead a hand-to-mouth existence due to their substandard economic status and lower education levels.
According to statistics provided by Tsay, the unemployment rate for Taiwan's Aborigines is more than double that of the non-Aboriginal population and only 60 percent of Aborigines have graduated from junior high school. As well, the proportion of college graduates is far below that of more dominant ethnic groups.
Tsay's information also showed that tap water is only available for 53 percent of Aboriginal residents, who predominantly live in mountainous areas, while the figure is 90 percent for residents of other areas.
The Aboriginal representatives asked the Chen administration to bring down the gap in living-standards in two years as well as pass laws that guarantee Aborigines' welfare.
Aboriginal representatives also asked Chen to honor the pact that he had signed with Aborigines.
They were referring to the treaty called "A New Partnership Between the Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Taiwan," which Chen had signed with 11 Aboriginal representatives during a presidential campaign stop on Orchid Island in 1999.
The treaty has as its aim the promotion of Aboriginal autonomy and the giving back of land. The treaty also said that an Aboriginal Congress, consisting solely of Aboriginal representatives, should be established to handle matters related to Aboriginal rights and autonomy.
Other Aboriginal rights, such the rights to resources and land ownership, are also mentioned in the treaty.
Little has changed
"Despite what has been said in the treaty, nothing much has been implemented," said Iban Nokan, a member of Atayal tribe and researcher at Academia Sinica's Institute of Ethnology.
Demanding Chen fulfill his promises, Nokan added that no matter how the legislature wants to change its structure in the future, Aboriginal representative at the legislature ought to follow a system of ethnic representation.
"Meaning that every Aboriginal tribe in Taiwan, even the Thao group, ought to have its own tribal representative in the legislature," Nokan said.
The Thao is the smallest Aboriginal tribe in Taiwan with a population of no more than 300 people.
Nokan added that the relationship between the government and Aborigines should be "ethnic to ethnic."
"It's a concept that emphasizes our native sovereignty and the equality between government and Aborigines," he said.
"Chen pledged during the presidential campaign that he would work for the self-determination of the nation's Aborigines," Nokan said.
"We hope that Chen will realize those words."
Lan Kuo-cheing (藍國徵), a member of the Paiwan tribe and a graduate student at National Taipei University's Graduate Institute of City Planning, said the government should not fear letting Aborigines handle their own business.
"The government should not be gripped by a fear about the redistribution of power and resources," he said.
"We strongly hope that the President A-bian will not bounce his election checks, but will realize his promises," Chin said. "We will work to pressure the government to make good on its promises."
Alui said that she has not given up on the Chen administration.
Watan hopes to see signs of improvement the next time he visits his tribal village in the near future.
"President Chen still has two years time in his current term," Alui said. "I sincerely hope that he will work to honor the promises that he had made to us Aborigines."
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