Several hundred Aborigines from communities seriously affected by Typhoon Morakot staged a protest outside the Executive Yuan yesterday demanding that the government immediately relocate them from temporary accommodation in military camps.
Demonstrators from the Siraya, Piwan, Rukai, Bunun and Tsou people urged the Executive Yuan’s Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council to help the communities resume their tribal and family lives by accommodating them in prefabricated houses.
The protesters called on the council to stop designating certain areas hit by the typhoon and mudslides as uninhabitable and to investigate the causes of the disaster. They also complained about the failure of the government to involve victims of the typhoon in reconstruction efforts.
PHOTO: CNA
The Legislative Yuan passed the Post-Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction Special Act (莫拉克颱風災後重建特別條例) on Aug. 27, empowering the central government to “forcibly relocate” residents living in “dangerous places” or “overexploited areas” after consulting with residents.
Reconstruction has proceeded since late August, but the victims said they had seen limited progress.
The demonstrators yesterday blocked the Executive Yuan’s front gate and demanded that Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who was presiding over a meeting of the council inside, meet them.
The protesters were involved in minor clashes with police officers when they forced their way to the front gate of the Executive Yuan. Some protesters climbed onto a fence while police tried to push them down.
Wu sent Lwo Shih-hsiung (羅世雄), chief executive officer of the Executive Yuan’s office in southern Taiwan, to meet the protesters, but Lwo returned to the Executive Yuan after the latter refused to speak to him as he was not the decision-maker in the reconstruction council.
“We have been taking what you want seriously,” Lwo told protesters before leaving.
Deputy Executive Officer of the council Chen Chen-chuan (陳振川) later showed up to assure the Aborigines that more than 300 prefabricated homes were under construction in six cities and counties affected by the storm while 200 houses have been completed.
He said the government would respect and consult with the communities in reconstruction efforts.
The protesters threatened to stage a demonstration on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office next month should the government fail to resolve the relocation issue.
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