The Ministry of Education’s “China-centric” adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines seek to undermine Aboriginal history and culture, Presbyterian pastor Omi Wilang said.
Omi, an Atayal, said that Aborigines are the most qualified to address Taiwanese history, and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) “government-in-exile” — which retreated to Taiwan from China after it lost the Chinese Civil War — is trying to reconnect with its Chinese roots at a time when Aboriginal peoples are seeking to re-establish their cultural traditions.
Taiwanese Aborigines have nothing to do with the Yangtze River and Yellow River in China, Omi said, questioning the ministry’s objective in educating Aboriginal students about Chinese and unificationist ideology.
The new guidelines are tantamount to Sinicization and aims to eliminate and assimilate Aboriginal students, which is an act of state violence, he said, adding that he was thankful to students participating in an anti-curriculum campaign.
Different Aboriginal peoples — be they Bunun, Atayal or Sediq — have different histories, cultures and customs, he said.
However, the ministry is using the state’s power to infiltrate the history and lives of Aborigines with its unificationist agenda, preventing Aboriginal students from living up to their ancestors’ legacies, he said.
Many Aboriginal peoples have lost their roots because of state violence: They know about the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Amur River in China, but do not know what the different mountains in Taiwan means to different Aboriginal communities — such as Dawu Mountain (大武山), which is sacred to the Paiwan, Yushan (玉山) to the Bunun and Dabajian Mountain (大霸尖山) to the Atayal, he said.
Those sacred mountains are where Aborigines have shaped their cultures and bred numerous generations, which should not be lost to later generations, Omi Wilang said.
Those who are educated in the new curriculum would become unrecognizable to their ancestral spirits and would be unable to cross the rainbow bridge to the hereafter, he said.
The pastor was referring to the Atayal belief that the souls of the deceased have to pass the rainbow bridge to where the spirits of their ancestors dwell, and those who do not have facial tattoos or other distinguishing marks would not be recognized by their ancestors and would fall off the bridge, unable to get into heaven or reunite with their people.
The new curriculum seeks to replace Aboriginal culture with a China-centric ideology, which is against Aborigines’ mission to pass down their history and cultural legacy, Omi said.
All people are created equal in the eyes of God, whether they are Chinese with a population of 1.3 billion or Thao — the nation’s smallest Aboriginal group with only 716 people, he said.
The curriculum should embrace pluralism and describe truthfully the history of different peoples, he said.
The Republic of China designates Oct. 25 as Taiwan’s Retrocession Day, but the date spells ruin for Aborigines, he said, adding that different peoples should respect each other and their points of view.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The New Taipei City Art Museum this weekend plans to celebrate its first anniversary with a two-day extravaganza featuring live concerts and a large-scale synchronized fireworks and drone display, the New Taipei City Cultural Affairs Department said. The two-day celebrations are to take place in the museum’s outdoor park, with markets and live performances by singers including Ann Bai (白安), Bii (畢書盡) and the Cosmos People (宇宙人), the department said. The highlight on both evenings would be the "Echoes of Light" show, an aerial spectacle combining fireworks and drone performances designed around the concept of "dual stages in the sky," it
RSS