Siraya Aborigines in Tainan yesterday filed an administrative lawsuit against the Tainan City Election Commission for disqualifying them from running in the year-end city council election on the Aboriginal ballot.
Preparatory court meetings took place yesterday for two separate lawsuits filed by Siraya Cultural Association chairwoman Uma Talavan and the Tainan County Government — the only government authority that currently recognizes the Sirayas as an Aboriginal tribe — against the Tainan City Election Commission over its decision to deny a Siraya candidate the right to run on the Aboriginal ballot.
Although the registration process for the election has not yet started, the election commission informed the association in writing that a Siraya candidate would not be eligible to run as an Aborigine, Talavan told a press conference before she entered the courthouse.
PHOTO: WANG CHUN-CHUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“We don’t know what the outcome will be, but I am glad that at least the court has decided to hear the case,” Talavan said.
“We will present all the necessary documents and evidence to prove that Sirayas are an Aboriginal tribe, and hopefully the court will rule in our favor. If so, this would be a milestone ruling,” she continued.
The Siraya are an Aboriginal tribe that live mostly in southern Taiwan.
Despite being recognized by authorities before the 1950s, the Siraya forfeited official recognition in that decade when they failed to register their Aboriginal identity before a deadline set by the government. For nearly 60 years, the Siraya have been deemed to have “voluntarily abandoned” their ethnic identity.
Many Sirayas — along with members of other tribes who also lost official recognition — have been fighting for recognition ever since. Many claim that they never received any official announcement about the ethnic registration, while others, including Talavan, say that ethnicity is not something that can be abandoned voluntarily or otherwise.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS