New regulations announced by the Council of Indigenous Peoples that exclude privately held land from being recognized as traditional Aboriginal territory perpetuate the injustices done to Aborigines for more than a century, Aboriginal rights advocates said yesterday in Taipei.
A group of protesters, who have been staging a “sleepout” on Ketagalan Boulevard down the street from the Presidential Office Building since Thursday last week, offered lilies to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 228 Incident and called for the restoration of traditional Aboriginal territories and transitional justice for all Taiwanese, regardless of ethnicity.
Several of the protesters had planned to attend a commemoration ceremony at the 228 Peace Memorial Park to offer condolences to families of the victims of the 228 Massacre, but were prevented from entering the venue.
Photo: CNA
The council on Feb. 14 announced guidelines on the delineation of traditional Aboriginal territories that would restrict the application of the “traditional area” label to government-owned land, explicitly excluding private land.
The exclusion has sparked heated debate. A large amount of Aboriginal territory has been privatized and the exclusion would deprive Aborigines of the rights to participate in the development of traditional territories that were seized and privatized by the Japanese colonial and the Republic of China (ROC) governments, campaigners have said.
Much of the land owned by state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp and private hotel chains in eastern Taiwan was the hunting grounds of Amis communities for hundreds of years, and the new guidelines would only serve to legalize and entrench the misappropriation of Aboriginal land, said documentary filmmaker Mayaw Biho, an Amis and a former director of the state-run Taiwan Indigenous Television.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) apology for the historical oppression of Aborigines in August last year gave them hope, but the government has once again rejected Aborigines’ rights to their traditional territories, Mayaw said.
“Half a year has passed since the apology, but the ROC government has continued to ignore the plight of the Aborigines,” he said.
“The ROC government takes advantage of Aborigines when it wants to promote the image of Taiwan, but it never relents when it comes to sacrificing their interests,” said singer Nabu Husungan Istanda, who is a Bunun.
“Although it is absolutely correct that the government has sought to address the 228 Incident and the issue of transitional justice, the nation has yet to make an equal effort to redress the injustices done to Aborigines,” said singer-activist Panai Kusui, who is an Amis.
The guidelines are a political expedient agreed between Minister Without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) and Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod, which override Aboriginal rights by using the Han Chinese concept of private ownership, said Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), one of the leaders of the Sunflower movement in 2014.
“Many Aborigines are willing to negotiate with the government about the conflict between private ownership [and the delineation of traditional areas], but I want to ask if the government is willing to offer such an opportunity,” Lin said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
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
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS