Aborigines from 12 Asia-Pacific countries, including Taiwan, passed a proposal yesterday to set up a permanent forum with its preparatory office in Taipei to promote cooperation and exchange among Austronesian Aborigines.
Representatives from the countries reached the agreement during the 2003 Austronesian International Convention at the Taipei Grand Hotel yesterday. The convention brought together representatives from the Marshall Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the Philippines, Malaysia, the Solomon Islands, Palau, Tuvalu and Taiwan
The establishment of the Forum of Austronesian Cooperation and Exchange (FACE) was first proposed last year in the Assembly of the Austronesian Leaders held in Taipei to promote the "preservation, maintenance and transmission of the Austronesian cultures" and exchanges among Aborigines in the area.
Liou Wei-jer (
However, Taiwan's budget for FACE would need to wait till next year for consent from the legislature, so the project would start in 2005 at the earliest, Liou said.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun also attended the convention's opening ceremony and delivered a speech calling for closer cooperation in researching Austronesian culture and history as well as in the promotion of indigenous people's well-being and their international role.
Yu also promoted the Austronesian cultural park in Taitung County under the Cabinet's 10 new construction projects. Yu said that the government would invest up to NT$5 billion in the next five years to establish the park as part of its efforts to make Taiwan a platform for Austronesian cultural, arts and academic exchanges.
Other topics addressed at the assembly include the preservation of indigenous people's cultural heritage and languages, improvement of education and welfare services for indigenous people, cultivation of indigenous people's international links and the upgrading of indigenous people's international image.
Meanwhile, a group of Aboriginal representatives and Aboriginal affairs activists yesterday called for new legislation that would allow Taiwan's indigenous people to utilize a referendum to decide issues that specifically concern them.
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