Draft regulations for the establishment of boundaries for Aboriginal land and villages, announced on Tuesday by the Council of Indigenous Peoples and said to be the means to re-establish rights to land for Aboriginals across 800,000 hectares of traditional territory, met with strong criticism from Aborigines and lawmakers yesterday.
The Indigenous Youth Front and legislators across party lines criticized the draft for not including privately owned land, adding that the draft regulations are a slight against Aborigines.
The Indigenous Youth Front said that by excluding privately owned land from traditional territories, the end result would be fragmented traditional territory.
Excluding such land would be to sell out their ancestors, it said.
New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, an Amis, said that the regulations would make Aborigines “drifters on their own land” and deprive them of autonomy to determine their own village affairs.
The regulations would also make it easier for corporate entities to establish resorts on Aboriginal land, Kawlo said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), a Puyuma, said that it was “absurd” and “unacceptable” that the council is unable to perfectly draw the borders of traditional territories.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), an Amis, said that the draft regulations ignored suggestions he made last year.
Siluko in June last year called for discussions on a new Aboriginal policy platform and laws that would enable Aborigines to reclaim land taken from them.
He said yesterday that as the draft regulations would be unable to protect Aborigines’ right to land, the council should retract the proposal.
Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod said the council had contacted groups to hear their opinions and negotiate the proposed legislation.
“The draft regulations would restore land justice to Aborigines,” Icyang said. “We have to pass the regulations, and we will not retract the proposal.”
“The Constitution protects the rights of property of the people and if the council included privately owned land in its draft regulations, it would not only be unconstitutional, but would create the crazy situation where land owners would have to ask the council’s permission to use it,” he said.
“The draft regulations are the first step toward re-establishing Aborigines’ right to land,” DPP Legislator Kolas Yotaka, an Amis, said.
The draft regulations were based on the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民基本法), which only regulates public land, Kolas said.
The government would have to seek alternative legal channels to purchase private land improperly taken from Aborigines and then return it, Kolas said.
Tunkan Tansikian, a professor in the Department of Indigenous Affairs and Ethno-Development at National Dong Hwa University, said that Aboriginal land has been chopped up and sometimes bought privately because of complicated historical reasons.
“Excluding private land from the regulations would be to take the middle ground to minimize conflict,” said Tunkan, who is a former deputy minister of the council.
According to council estimates, efforts by Aborigines to regain land from the government since the 1990s have seen approximately 20,000 hectares of land given “conserved” status.
Should the draft regulations be passed, Aborigines will be able to regain about 800,000 hectares of land, the council said.
By combining traditional territories with conserved land, Aborigines would be able to lay claim to a little over 1 million hectares of land, the council said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS