Taipei Times: In addition to the fact that President Chen Shui-bian (
Lin Sheng-feng (
The Central Mountain Range used to be blanketed with Chinese cypress trees. However, most of them were cut down and exported to foreign countries during the Japanese colonial era and KMT rule.
The cypress forest in the proposed Makao National Park is what is left after decades of deforestation. It's very important to protect the last and largest primeval cypress forest in Taiwan from the viewpoint of ecological conservation.
TT: Opposition groups have argued that the establishment of the park would violate an agreement signed by President Chen Shui-bian when he was running for the presidency in 1999. In the agreement, he pledged to promote an autonomous region for Aborigines as well as other rights, such as resource use and land ownership. What are your thoughts on this?
Lin: The DPP-led government has no problem at all with promoting an autonomous region for Aborigines. It's a promise made by the president when he signed the "A New Partnership Between the Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Taiwan" agreement in the run-up to the presidential election in 1999.
As a matter of fact, the Cabinet's Council of Aboriginal Affairs (原民會) is working on proposing a new bill in this regard to bring the president's pledge to fruition.
However, don't confuse the establishment of an autonomous region for Aborigines with the establishment of the Makao National Park as an ecological conservation project, because they're two very different issues.
To show the government's sincerity in resolving the problem raised by Atayal Aborigines who claimed that the establishment of the Makao National Park would violate their lives, culture and rights, the Executive Yuan has approved draft amendments to the National Park Law pertaining to their request. We hope the Legislative Yuan will approve the proposal, which has made many significant breakthroughs.
I was kind of swept off my feet when they staged the protest the other day because we've been trying so hard to listen to them, explain to them what we're doing, tell them what the plan is about and how we're willing to solve their problems.
The main reason for their outrage, however, I think, has a lot to do with their mistaking the government's promulgation of the realm of the park as an official establishment. It takes years to establish a national park and promulgating the realm of the park is just part of the year-long preparatory work before its inauguration.
TT: So you are saying that they have no idea about what the government has been doing for them.
Lin: If they had done a little bit more homework, they'd have put more pressure on the Council of Aboriginal Affairs, which is drawing up the bill for the autonomous region for the Aborigines.
It's a complicated issue to establish an autonomous region for the Aborigines. Like the regional autonomy of local governments, an autonomous region for the Aborigines has to hold its own elections, hire its own people, enact its own laws, and raise its own funds. Fund-raising alone could be an extremely difficult task, not to mention the zoning of such a region, because it would scatter across a mountain range.
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