Saying that regaining the uniqueness of Aboriginal culture is important to Taiwan's future, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) vowed yesterday that the government will review Aboriginal policy, which in the past has created the false and biased attitude that Chinese culture is superior.
Chen said that problems faced by the Aborigines needed to be examined and solved. He promised that the government's Aboriginal policies would improve.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"The diverse ethnic cultures in Taiwan's historical development are the country's most precious asset, which forms Taiwan's uniqueness in the world community," the president said.
Chen made the remarks in a speech delivered at the graduation ceremony for an Aboriginal studies class at the Ketagalan Academy -- an institute founded by Chen to nurture a new generation of politically adept professionals.
While pursuing globalization, Chen said, Taiwan must fully develop its unparalleled ethnic cultural assets in order to enhance its competitiveness and preserve its uniqueness.
"Therefore, the main spirit of the course is to tell the public how they misunderstand the Aboriginal issue," Chen said.
"The problem does not lie with those tribes themselves. Rather, the problem lies with other ethnic groups," he said.
Chen said the previous KMT administration's policy of forcing indigenous people to give up their ethnic cultures and languages and to Sinicize their names was wrong.
Such a biased policy has led Aboriginal people to become bogged down in a political, economic, social and cultural quagmire. That needs to be corrected, Chen said.
"Instead of focusing on how those Aboriginal tribes became the disadvantaged minority, we should focus on mobilizing their unique characteristics of tenacity and vitality," he said
Chen said the Ketagalan Aboriginal studies class focuses on discovering indigenous people's vigor, vitality and perseverance. Over the years, he said, the local Aboriginal rights movement has given valuable inspiration for the government to improve its policy in dealing with Aboriginal affairs.
Since taking power, Chen said, his administration has made strenuous efforts to forge new partnerships with all of the island's Aboriginal tribes.
"And I always memorize and read the names of all 11 tribes when receiving foreign guests, to remind myself as well as to show the guests how unique those tribes are," Chen said.
Chen made a point of reading out the name of each Aboriginal group in his address.
He said it is his hope that all local people will memorize the names of the country's tribes because that would be a way of demonstrating respect for those tribes.
The first Ketagalan Aboriginal studies class had 32 graduates, all of whom wore their traditional tribal costumes for the ceremony.
Among them was Chen Yi-hsin (
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