Nearly 400 protesters from the "Taiwan Aborigines 921 Earthquake Self-help Coalition (
Following a protest on Tuesday accusing Vice President Lien Chan (
After they were received by officials of the Council of Aboriginal Affairs, the crowd dispersed with a demand to speak with Premier Vincent Siew next Friday about his relief programs for the Aborigines.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Participants of the protest include Aboriginal villagers from Hoping village in Taichung County, Jenai village and Hsinyi village in Nantou County and a group of urban Aborigines dwelling in central Taiwan.
Led by Aboriginal preacher Wang Chung-hsin (?y援儕H), Taichung County councilor Lin Jung-ching (林榮進) and Nantou County councilor Yukan Nafu, the Coalition was organized with help from the activist group Aboriginal Rights Association (-嚃v會) and the Labor Rights Association (3狻e會). Among their 10 demands, a NT$10 billion fund to provide loans specifically for Aborigines was emphasized.
Traffic difficulties, potential mudslides, agricultural damage and unemployment are still the main complaints, said Yukan Nafu from Tayal tribe, one of the organizers.
New problems also have emerged among Aboriginal students. As several elementary schools in mountain areas have not resumed teaching, students have had to transfer to schools in towns.
"But here we were discriminated against by non-Aborigines," said an Amis student.
Existing policies are divided between different government organizations, which means that Aborigines have to file application forms to many agencies to have their requests dealt with, and their needs are often neglected.
"There should to be a single cross-departmental organization to deal with Aboriginal relief measures," Nafu said.
The Council of Aboriginal Affairs under the Executive Yuan is much too low level to integrate all the relief measures concerning Aboriginal affairs, he said.
Protesters had planed to march along the Kategalan Boulevard in front of the presidential office, but they were blocked by a heavy police presence. Instead, 12 delegates went to the presidential office to present their plea. But their demands were received by what they considered a low-level official, Fan-chiang Chun-shen (-S姜群生), the director of public relations office.
Under pressure from the crowd, delegates then went to negotiate with the Council of the Aboriginal Affairs. But Hua Chia-chi (
He said the council had four stations set up specifically for Aborigines and the cabinet level Post-disaster Reconstruction Commission had also formed a task force for Aboriginal affairs.
"The council prepared a NT$100 million fund for Aborigines who could not present collateral when applying for a loan," Hua said.
According to Hua, the main problem was that Aboriginal-related relief policies were not sufficiently publicized and explained. "We are putting more effort into this," said Hua.
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