In a show of solidarity among the Puyuma people in Taitung County, the Puyuma National Congress voiced its support for five hunters who were detained in December last year, demanding an official apology from police officials as well as legislation to protect the hunting rights of Aborigines.
Representatives from all 10 Puyuma villages — which contain eight clans and a total population of about 13,000 people — announced the launch of a broader campaign to rally support among Aboriginal people nationwide.
The five hunters — all from Taitung’s Papulu village — were detained by officers for nearly a full day from Dec. 30 to Dec. 31 over allegations that they had unregistered firearms in violation of the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例).
The incident forced the abrupt end of the group’s annual mangayaw, or hunting festival.
The arrests sparked an outcry among Aboriginal residents, who accused police officers of arresting the hunters to boost their year-end performance records.
Aboriginal rights advocates from across the nation said that the incident reflected disrespect toward Aboriginal culture, adding that regulations on gun control failed to account for different cultural traditions.
The Taitung District Prosecutors’ Office rejected the case and the hunters were released.
Villagers from Papulu and their supporters then launched a string of protests against the arrests, including a demonstration in front of the Chenggong Police Precinct in Chenggong Township (成功).
Group spokesperson Pan Tiao-chih (潘調志) questioned the sincerity of police officials, saying that although the villagers received a spoken apology from the precinct chief, their other demands for reform have been ignored.
Pan said the incident highlighted the importance of national legislation to protect Aboriginal hunting rights, adding that Puyuma people should have the right to utilize natural resources during mangayaw.
Further protests are set to take place before a meeting with inspectors from the Control Yuan scheduled for Feb. 24, Pan said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS