Amis singer Panai Kusui and other campaigners yesterday planted sprouts of Taiwanese indigenous lilies at the 228 Memorial Park in Taipei to mark International Human Rights Day and the 291st day of their campout for the return of traditional Aboriginal territory.
To protest the government’s regulations over Aboriginal lands, Panai, Bunun singer Nabu Husungan Istanda and other Aborigines have been camping outside the Presidential Office Building for 291 days.
The Council of Indigenous Peoples 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.
Photo: CNA
The exclusion has sparked heated debate, with campaigners saying that much Aboriginal territory has been privatized and the exclusion would deprive Aborigines of the right to be part of the development of traditional land that was seized and privatized by the Japanese colonial and the Republic of China governments.
The protesters first camped on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard directly in front of the office, but after being driven away by police in June, they moved the camp to the nearby National Taiwan University Hospital MRT station, which borders the 228 Memorial Park.
To mark yesterday’s commemoration, the groups invited members of the public to help plant lilies.
Photo: CNA
The issue of human rights becomes more pressing when Aborigines such as Panai and Nabu are forced to fight for their lands using these methods, Soochow University philosophy professor Chen Jau-hwa (陳瑤華) said, adding that whether Aborigines are objects or subjects of human rights in the government’s policymaking process is unclear.
One hundred pots of sprouting Lilium formosanum (台灣百合) were prepared on site yesterday for participants, activity host Nan Mei-yu (南美瑜) said, adding that the groups hope Aborigines could return to their lands by the time the lilies blossom in spring next year.
In the traditions of the Rukai people, only “innocent girls and brave men can wear lilies as adornments,” Nabu said.
Outside the Aboriginal context, lilies are used to honor people who died in the 228 Massacre and also served as a symbol of the Wild Lily Student Movement in 1990, he added.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS