Standing amid a thunderstorm, dozens of Pingpu Aborigines yesterday gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei for the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples to protest against the government’s denial of their Aboriginal status.
“We are now standing on the land that was once the traditional domain of the Ketagalan — one of the Pingpu Aboriginal tribes,” Siraya Cultural Association spokeswoman Uma Talavan said. “The Republic of China (ROC) occupies our land, the Presidential Office stands on traditional Ketagalan land, but refuses to recognize us as Aborigines.”
“The government is pushing us into annihilation,” she added.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Talavan said in the past decade, the government has always said it would “look into the issue,” but thus far, no conclusion has been reached. Pingpu Aborigines comprise several Aboriginal tribes that once lived in the country’s flat areas.
While most of the Pingpu Aborigines have lost their cultures and languages, and adopted those of Han Chinese, some are intent on keeping their identity and are campaigning for the government to officially recognize them as Aborigines.
However, despite more than 20 years of efforts, they still have not been granted official status.
“A regime that does not respect the first inhabitants of the island is an illegitimate regime,” Presbyterian Church of Taiwan pastor Lee Hsiao-chung (李孝忠) said.
“Let’s take out our red cards, and show them to the ROC government, it’s time for us to tell it to get out of Taiwan,” he said, referring to the penalty given in soccer to kick a player out of the game.
Jason Pan (潘紀揚), a representative of the Pazeh Pingpu Aboriginal tribe, said that without Pingpu Aborigines, Taiwanese culture and history would be incomplete.
“We cannot allow the Pingpus to vanish. We are here because we want to tell the ROC government and the world that the Pingpu Aborigines are still here, alive and well,” Pan said.
Representatives of the demonstrators were received by a Presidential Office public relations officer, who listened to their petitions.
“We met with a new public relations officer surnamed Lee (李) and we think she’s better than the one we met before,” Talavan said after the meeting. “She listened more attentively, showed more interest and I felt she was more sincere.”
Talavan said Lee had said there was a discrepancy between the information provided by Pingpu groups and the Council of Indigenous Peoples and said she would research the issue herself.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS