Shouting slogans, singing traditional songs and performing traditional dances, dozens of young Amis Aborigines from the village of A’tolan yesterday gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan, accusing the government of planning development projects in their traditional domains without first getting their consent.
The Amis protesters — mostly young people — were upset over plans by the East Coast National Scenic Area Administration Headquarters to invite private corporations to build a holiday resort along the A’tolan coast, which is administratively known as Dulan Village (都蘭) in Taitung County’s Donghe Township (東河), through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) plan.
“The [administration] is trying to build a holiday resort on the coast of A’tolan. The location that they picked is called Dulanbi (都蘭鼻), or ‘Pacifalan’ in our language,” said Loan Alang, a spokesman for the village’s protest action group. “Pacifalan is believed to be the location where our ancestors landed before they established the village and it’s also where we hold our traditional festivals.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“It belongs to all residents of A’tolan and to all Amis people. The government has no right to allow private corporations to take over,” he added.
Suming, an Amis singer who was born in A’tolan, also called on the government to halt the development project, which, he said, would only bring destruction to the village and to the ecosystem.
“If you really loved A’tolan, you would not harm it,” he said. “Part of the beauty of the village comes from the Amis culture and the beauty of the place cannot be replaced by large resort hotels.”
The protesters said they would perform the “dance of defense” at Pacifalan on Saturday.
The “dance of defense” is a traditional dance unique to A’tolan.
Dancers dress in full traditional regalia, with knives and small bells and carrying decorated umbrellas. As they dance, they move the umbrella up and down and jump to make the bells ring.
Village elders said that the dance originated with armed escorts who accompanied hunters or women and children on trips outside the village.
The bells were meant to warn possible enemies along the way that the travelers were escorted by armed warriors, the elders said.
Elders also explained that escorts used to carry pikes, but as the Japanese colonial government prohibited this for fear that they might attack the Japanese, dancers then replaced the pikes with umbrellas.
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