The Atayal Tribal Council and several environmental groups in support of the proposed Makao Chinese Cypress National Park yesterday called on all four political parties not to politicize the issue as the legislature gets ready to deliberate the proposed park's budget today.
"As the Legislative Yuan gets ready to vote for the Ministry of Interior's proposed budget for the park, we want to again call on all legislators not to make their decision on the park from a political point of view but on principles that matter to the Atayal's ethnic entity," Utux Lvak, secretary-general of the Atayal council, said yesterday.
Visiting the Legislative Yuan yesterday to voice their concerns to the four political parties, supporters of the park called on legislators not to let the proposal become a sacrifice to political wrangling.
The Legislative Yuan is slated today to deliberate the Ministry of Interior's NT$40 million budget to establish the park.
The park would cover 53,000 hectares of mature forest in northern Taiwan, encompassing four Atayal aboriginal villages in Wulai township, Taipei County; Fuhsing township in Taoyuan County; Tatung township in Ilan County and Chienshih township in Hsinchu County.
Aiming to preserve the area's extensive and homogenous Tai-wanese red cypress and yellow cypress forests, the government has promised that the park will be managed under joint management mechanisms between the government and Aborigines, with the protection of the interests of local Aborigines and conservation of their culture.
The NT$40 million budget encompasses various initiatives such as the promotion of ecology tours, counseling and assistance for the nearby aboriginal tribes and research for the area's ecology resources.
"If the Legislative Yuan were to call off the MOI's proposed NT$40 million budget for the park, it will jeopardize the promotion of the park and the rights of the area's Aborigines," Lvak said.
The proposal has become a controversial issue among Taiwan's Aborigines.
While the Atayal Tribal Council and environmental groups support the establishment of the park for the sake of natural preservation and continued development of the Atayal culture and livelihood, other groups led by independent aboriginal lawmaker May Chin (高金素梅) have voiced strong opposition to the park.
Last Saturday, some aboriginal groups warned that they will set fire to the park's mountain if the budget to establish the park is given the green light by the legislature.
Questioned on whether such mechanisms offered Aborigines a true chance to have a say in the park's management, Chin demand that the area be made into an Atayal autonomous region instead of a park.
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