Plains Aborigines, commonly known as Pingpu, would be officially recognized as an Aboriginal community and their rights would be legally protected, according to a draft bill passed by the Cabinet yesterday.
A proposed amendment to the Status Act For Indigenous Peoples (原住民身分法) would add plains Aborigines to the two existing categories of “mountain Aborigines” and “lowland Aborigines,” the Council of Indigenous Peoples said.
People whose ancestors were registered as shou fan (熟蕃, meaning assimilated) or “Pingpu” during the Japanese colonial period can be recognized as Pingpu, according to the proposal.
People would be able to seek Aboriginal recognition without changing their names, the council said.
“The terms ‘mountain Aborigines,’ ‘lowland Aborigines’ and ‘plains Aborigines’ all refer to Aborigines under the 10th constitutional amendment, just as the Indian, Inuit and Metis peoples are recognized by the Canadian constitution,” the council said.
Mountain and lowland Aborigines are geographical categorizations, as Aborigines have been recognized as either mountain or lowland peoples according to where they lived before the Republic of China government came to Taiwan, and people of the same community could be recognized as either mountain or lowland Aborigine.
Plains Aborigine is an anthropological grouping, with Kavalan people being the only plains Aborigines attaining state recognition, although they are mostly recognized as lowland Aborigines.
Since the 1990s, plains Aborigines, including the Ketagalan, Pazeh, Kaxabu, Makatao, Hoanya, Papora and Taokas, have launched campaigns calling for official recognition of Pingpu peoples.
Kavalan were officially recognized in 2012, and Siraya were recognized by the then-Tainan County as “county-recognized Aborigines” in 2005, but they have yet to attain state recognition.
“The amendment fulfills the name rectification objectives of plains Aborigines seeking official recognition for more than 20 years,” Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said.
The amendment is part of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Aboriginal reinstatement policy and is an endorsement of the self-identification principle of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Lin said.
Further legislation is needed to codify the rights of plains Aborigines, as the existing legal framework is oriented toward the mountain-lowland axis, the council said.
The amendment is to be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for approval.
Separately, the Executive Yuan has proposed abolishing the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission and submitted the proposal to the legislature for approval.
The proposal is the first part of a planned Executive Yuan restructuring, and the duties of the commission are to be transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Mainland Affairs Council.
Six of the commission’s 49 employees would be transferred to the council, while others would be transferred to the two ministries.
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