The law must be revised if the government wants to grant official recognition to Pingpu Aborigines campaigning for their rights, Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) Deputy Minister Lin Chiang-yi (林江義) said earlier this week.
Saying that the Aboriginal Identity Act (原住民身份法) stipulates that only Aborigines residing in mountain areas can be officially recognized as Aborigines, Lin said until the act is amended, the CIP must abide by the principle of the rule of law in dealing with the Pingpu people’s desire for official recognition as Aborigines.
Jason Pan (潘紀揚), president of the Taiwan Association for Rights Advancement of Pingpu Plain Aborigine Peoples, however, described Lin’s legal argument as “ineffectual and circular.”
“Article 2 leaves room open for further inclusion of groups after a survey has been done. The spirit of the law is inclusiveness, but it’s actually being used to exclude groups,” Pan said. “It’s become a politically discriminatory law that excludes the Pingpu people.”
He questioned the government’s interpretation of what an Aborigine “residing in a mountain area” is.
“By Lin’s standards, the Tao tribe and the Amis should not be recognized as Aborigines,” Pan said. “Close to 50 percent of the so-called “mountain Aborigines” now live in urban areas. Should they lose recognition status?”
The Tao live on Orchid Island, mostly in coastal areas, and the Amis, the most populous officially recognized Aboriginal group in Taiwan, live in the valleys and coastal areas of eastern Taiwan, Pan said.
Pan’s group said on Sunday that the UN special rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples has accepted its request to probe what the group calls the Taiwanese government’s refusal to grant the Pingpu official Aboriginal status.
Pan said the group received a message from UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya on May 6 saying its request would be given “close and careful consideration,” and that the UN could initiate communications with the Taiwanese government on the issue.
Asked about the CIP’s stance on the issue, Lin said the council has not yet received any information from the UN.
“If the UN rapporteur takes the initiative to contact us, we would be more than willing to communicate with him over the issue,” Lin said.
The CIP has subsequently issued a statement reiterating its respect for various Pingpu tribal groups’ appeals for official recognition of their status as Aborigines.
“The council will soon form a special task force to deal with the Pingpu affairs and will sincerely communicate with the relevant advocacy groups,” the statement said.
Food delivery provider Foodpanda had 564 consumer disputes from January to last month and failed to attend many mediation sessions with local governments nationwide, the Executive Yuan’s Consumer Protection Committee said. In a news release earlier this month, the committee said that it investigated consumer complaints and mediations for Foodpanda and rival Uber Eats during the period, when the number of delivery orders jumped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Uber Eats had 80 consumer disputes, the committee said. Of Foodpanda’s consumer disputes, 368 resulted from delivery drivers canceling orders after customers could not be reached, 108 were related to the quality or quantity
‘HONEYMOON’ IS OVER: A political science professor said that the Tsai administration’s popularity peaked after it successfully contained COVID-19, but is waning President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) approval ratings fell significantly this month in the wake of the government’s handling of the distribution of relief funds and stimulus coupons to people and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll released yesterday by the New Power Party (NPP) showed. The poll showed that 68 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with Tsai’s performance, down 8.9 percentage points from last month, while 21 percent said they disapproved of her performance. Her approval among respondents aged 20 to 29 fell 14.7 percentage points, the largest decrease when compared with other age
‘CHINESE CAPITAL’: Fanny Liu was found guilty of reducing the rent of a tenant in exchange for a vote for a KMT Taipei city councilor candidate The Taipei District Court on Wednesday sentenced Fanny Liu (劉樂妍), a former member of the now-disbanded female pop group Fantasy 4, to 10 years in prison for vote-buying. The court found Liu — who is now based in China and has made pro-Chinese Communist Party remarks — guilty of reducing the rent on a Taipei property she owned in exchange for the tenant voting for a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate in the November 2018 nine-in-one local elections. She can appeal the ruling. Liu in December 2018 reportedly lowered the rent by NT$1,000 after the tenant said they had voted for Taipei City
Passengers arriving at Taoyuan International Airport will find that most entrances to both terminals have been sealed off as part of its COVID-19 prevention efforts. Follow the signs and directions posted on the doors to find the nearest entry point. The airport has installed infrared cameras and thermometer guns at all open entrances, and all persons with a temperature of over 37.5 degrees Celsius are prohibited from entering the terminal. In addition, staff will take the temperature of those checking in to their flights in advance at Airport MRT stations A1 and A3. In accordance with the Centers of Disease
RSS