Filmmaker Mayaw Biho of the Amis Aboriginal community on Thursday announced he would run for a seat representing the Pingpu people in the Legislative Yuan.
He made the announcement at a news conference attended by celebrities such as singers Ara Kimbo, Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽) and Panai.
The event was also attended by heavy metal band Chthonic lead vocalist and New Power Party founder Freddy Lim (林昶佐), Social Democratic Party (SDP) founder Fan Yun (范雲) and Green Party Taiwan (台灣綠黨) convener Lin Ken-cheng (林根政).
Photo: CNA
According to Mayaw Biho, there have been more problems for the Aboriginal community since he lost the 2012 legislative election and became the executive director of the Tainan City Government’s committee on ethnic affairs.
“If we do not face up to the issues, we cannot effect change,” Mayaw Biho said, adding that Aborigines needed to become masters of their land and culture once again.
“We need to ensure a future that is fair and equal,” he said.
The candidate, running for one of the three seats dedicated to Taiwan’s lowland Pingpu Aboriginal people, pointed to the Smangus incident as an example, saying that if every village could formulate and implement their own rules, Taiwan would become a place capable of supporting multiple cultures and ethnicities.
Smangus Village (司馬庫斯) is known for opening up its land to tourism, but also implementing its own rules to ensure tourists do not overly disturb the local way of life.
Of the nation’s 540,000 Aborigines, 45.58 percent have registered their residences in urban areas, but although they have left their home villages to improve their lives, they are often faced with low wages and dangerous working conditions, Mayaw Biho said.
The average Aborigine earns NT$27,000 per month, Mayaw Biho said, with poor living conditions, low levels of education and discrimination from mainstream society leading to shorter life spans.
Aborigines need legislative amendments, Mayaw Biho said, adding that if elected he would propose the inclusion of a new chapter in the Constitution to address Aboriginal affairs specifically.
Singer-songwriter Ilid Kaolo said she supports Mayaw Biho for remaining steadfast in his criticism of politicians even after being elected.
To the chorus of his song Do You Still Dare to Dream? Mayaw Biho accepted a bamboo water pipe from Ara Kimbo, as well as gifts of rice wine, betel nuts and betel tree leaves from Fan, Lim and Lee, symbolizing their hope of working with him in the Legislative Yuan.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS