Activists pushing for official recognition of the Sediq tribe expressed their disappointment and anger at a study released earlier this month that dashed the tribe's hopes.
Shouting "Yaku u Sediq!" -- meaning "I am a Sediq" -- several Sediq held a press conference in Taipei yesterday.
The Sediq people, mistakenly considered Atayals since 1935, live mostly in Nantou and Hualien counties and can be further divided into three sub-tribes -- Toda, Tgdaya and Truku.
PHOTO: CNA
The Sediq's prolonged struggle to gain official recognition became complicated when the Trukus sub-tribe in Hualien received legal recognition by the government separately in January 2004, which former premier Yu Shyi-kun had promised to give them while campaigning for the Democratic Progressive Party candidate during the 2003 Hualien County commissioner election.
The Sediq were further shocked when the Truku drafted a Truku autonomy bill that included areas of Nantou County inhabited by Sediq.
In reaction, Sediq in Nantou submitted their own application to the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) for official tribal recognition in 2006.
Aside from the Sediq in Nantou, some Sediq of the Toda and Tgdaya sub-tribes in Hualien were also not happy to find they were officially considered Trukus.
"I am [called] a Truku, but my father always told me that we are Sediq," said Busi Noma, a Sediq from Hualien.
The council then asked ethnology professor Lim Siu-theh (
However, Lim's report, released earlier this month, disappointed the Sediq.
If both sub-tribes of the Sediq also receive official recognition, "there may be a domino effect," Lim said in his report.
"As far as we know, the Todas in Hualien are also considering applying for official recognition -- they think that they should become an independent tribe as well if the Trukus can become one," he said.
Lim also said that "the two sides [Sediq and Truku] both consider themselves to be one tribe, and the only point of dispute here is over the tribe's name."
The activists were disappointed and questioned Lim's neutrality in conducting the research.
"Lim was also asked [by the CIP] to conduct the research when the Trukus were applying for recognition," Awi Nokan, an activist, told the news conference. "In the [2003] report, Lim said that Sediq and Trukus are the same. Of course he wouldn't shoot himself in the foot in the new study."
"We're not asking the government to give us the name `Sediq,' because it has always been the name of our tribe," Siyac Nabu, an elder Sediq pastor, said.
"I was a Sediq before I was even born and I will be a Sediq even after I die," he said.
Shih Cheng-feng (
"Respecting self-determination and self-identification rights should be the principle the CIP follows when dealing with applications," Shih said.
"Trukus can have their autonomous region in Hualien, while Sediq have theirs in Nantou," he said. "In the event that there are overlapping traditional domains, the two tribes can co-manage these areas."
The Sediq activists met with CIP officials later yesterday, but no conclusion was reached after a three-hour meeting.
"It would certainly be much easier if we just approve their request -- but that would be too irresponsible," CIP planning office director Calivat Gadu said after the meeting.
However, he admitted that the decision to grant the Truku tribe official recognition had been hastily made.
"Now, we can only wait and try to negotiate a satisfactory resolution to the issue," he said.
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