Residents of Sanying Aboriginal Community (三鶯部落) yesterday remained unconvinced following a visit by Eric Chu (朱立倫), mayor of New Taipei City (新北市, the proposed English name for the upgraded Taipei County), who sat down with members of the community to discuss a number of controversies.
Sanying Community is located on the bank of the Dahan River (大漢橋). It received its name -because of its proximity to Sanying Bridge (三鶯大橋), which connects Sansia (三峽) and Yingge (鶯歌) districts in New Taipei City.
Like most other riverside Aboriginal communities in New Taipei City and Taoyuan County, the majority of residents are of the Amis tribe from Hualien and Taitung counties who migrated to urban areas to gain employment as construction workers, miners or temporary workers because they could not find work in their home counties.
Unable to pay for housing, they built their own houses with whatever materials they could find on unused riverside lands.
Considered illegal constructions, such riverside communities are constantly at risk of being torn down — and many of them have been flattened several times — with the residents rebuilding their villages because they have nowhere else to go.
Chu visited Sanying Aboriginal Community in the morning, something he had promised to do during his electoral campaign.
Although Chu agreed to help each household get water, electricity and official household registration, he did not respond to the question of whether Sanying residents could stay where they are or if the city government would help them find another plot of land to move to.
“I think now is the time for everyone — including the [city’s] Indigenous Peoples Bureau, the community itself and civic groups assisting the community — to peacefully face the issue,” he said.
“The city government, as a team, will face up to the problem and solve it,” Chu said. “I may not solve the issue right away, but I’m grateful for the efforts that former [Taipei County commissioners] Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) have made. I will continue to work based on what they have already accomplished.”
Some locals were unconvinced by the rhetoric.
“He [Chu] didn’t say anything concrete,” Sanying resident Chang Hsiu-yi (張秀宜) told the Taipei Times after Chu left. “I don’t think his visit will have any significant impact.”
Chang said she was worried about the future of the community because Chu had a record of demolishing riverside Aboriginal communities during his term as Taoyuan County commissioner.
“He talks well, he talks beautifully to the media, but I think it’s all fake,” Chang said.
After Sanying, Chu visited Sijhou Aboriginal Community along the Sindian River (新店溪), which is in Sindian District in a similar situation to Sanying Community, and vowed to uphold Chou’s promise to find another plot of land for the village.
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