A bamboo sailboat constructed using traditional shipbuilding techniques is to begin its maiden voyage off the coast of Taitung County next Monday, Amis activists from Taitung’s Farangaw Village announced yesterday.
The boat — named the Farangaw Autonomy — is to undertake a voyage to inspect the village’s traditional maritime territories, which activists hope will promote autonomous rule for Farangaw, as well as rally support for Aboriginal autonomy nationwide.
Villagers in Farangaw ceased production of traditional bamboo sailboats in the early years of Japanese colonial rule about 100 years ago, Council For Farangaw Autonomy chairperson Raranges Hoki Na Tungaw said.
Photo: Council For Farangaw Autonomy
“Through this voyage, we hope not only to reaffirm our traditional territories on land, but also to lay claim to our maritime territories,” Hoki said.
Five village elders in their 70s and 80s, although never having seen or built a bamboo sailboat themselves, led the project by relying on oral accounts of traditional shipbuilding they heard when they were young.
Bamboo from hills close to the village was harvested to construct the hull, while the ship’s sail was weaved from the leaves of screw pines found in coastal areas.
The villagers were once summoned to the police station for questioning after being accused of stealing the bamboo, which local authorities regard as public property, Hoki said.
Blasting government policies and laws which he said were “stifling” Aboriginal cultural development, Hoki called for Aboriginal sovereignty over traditional territories.
One of the main organizers of the event, National Taitung University professor Jesse Liu (劉炯錫) said access to the land and its resources was integral to the livelihood and cultural integrity of Aborigines.
Legal amendments to grant increased local autonomy should not be difficult as long as consensus is reached in Taiwanese society, Liu said, referencing as an example the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections, which were modified in May to include the elections of Aboriginal district representatives and district council members.
Several other Aboriginal activists and representatives from around the nation also showed up to express solidarity with Farangaw’s cause, including Su Ching-chen (蘇金成), a Rukai Aborigine from Taitung’s Tarumak Village.
As Tarumak is located in Beinan Township (卑南) — home to a Han Chinese majority — Aboriginal voices are often unrepresented in local government, Su said.
Su demanded a redrawing of township boundaries to establish a new autonomous Aboriginal township, which would include Tarumak and some other Aborigine villages from neighboring townships.
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
ASEAN BATTLEGROUND: Japan and Australia could be drawn into Pacific tensions as China sets its sights on the Diaoyutai Islands and further beyond the first island chain Tensions between China and the US in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to intensify, the National Security Bureau and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, recommending that Taiwan continue to emphasize its shared values and interests to encourage resistance to Chinese aggression. US commitments in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to continue unabated despite the war in Ukraine, as Beijing takes advantage of the conflict to expand its influence in the region, the agencies said in reports delivered to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Sunday, ahead of a hearing yesterday on regional developments and trends. Although Russia’s invasion of
ONLINE REPORT: Confirmed cases filling out the online contact tracing report can check a box to indicate that a close contact had received a booster dose, an official said The guidelines for diagnosing COVID-19 have been revised to include people aged 65 or older who test positive with a rapid test that is confirmed by a healthcare worker, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 65,794 new local infections. The CECC had first announced the change on Monday, before publishing the new guidelines. Starting today, people aged 65 or older, regardless of whether they are undergoing home quarantine, home isolation or self-disease prevention, can be classified as a confirmed COVID-19 case by a healthcare professional, based on a positive result from an antigen rapid test, said
RSS