Braving the rain, Cheng-hiong Talavan, a 70-year-old man from the Siraya tribe, carried a giant cross made of bamboo from Greater Tainan and began a sit-in outside the Council of Indigenous Peoples in Taipei yesterday, urging the government to grant official recognition to his tribe.
“It’s always been my dream for the Siraya tribe to be granted official recognition, just like all the other Aboriginal tribes,” Talavan told the Taipei Times outside the council building. “I’m very worried and eager, because I’m 70 and I don’t have much time left.”
Sirayas are one of the so-called Pingpu, or “plains” Aboriginal tribes in the country that have not received official Aboriginal status.
The Pingpu Aborigines, as the name indicates, live mostly on flat areas across the country and have gradually adopted the culture and language of Han immigrants from China over the past four centuries. Because of the cultural assimilation, many Pingpu tribespeople have lost their identity, while others are still struggling to gain official recognition.
The Pingpu are aware that their tribal identity as Aborigines was recognized by the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese colonial government — recognition they lost in the 1950s when they failed to register as Aborigines with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government when it took control of Taiwan after World War II.
For two decades, Pingpu have been campaigning, fruitlessly so far, to gain official recognition as Aborigines.
“I don’t understand what the government is thinking. We are Aborigines because we are Aborigines, how can you deny our identity and reject our demands for recognition? Talavan asked. “If you don’t think we are Aborigines, then what are we?”
“We have to get our identity back, so we won’t have to apologize to our ancestors and we won’t feel regret when facing our descendants,” he said.
An executive officer at the council’s Department of Planning, Tzama Palatsasaw, spoke with Talavan during his sit-in protest.
Palatsasaw said officially recognized Aborigines worried that the Pingpu would take a share of the already scarce government resources for Aborigines, but promised the council would help the two sides negotiate.
Talavan said what the Siraya care about most is official recognition.
“We don’t really want a piece of the welfare that other Aborigines enjoy today, we’re open to discussions,” he said.
Talavan said he would continue his sit-in at least until tomorrow, when other Siraya are set to travel to Taipei and join him, but he was not sure when he would end his sit-in protest.
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