Aboriginal rights advocates yesterday announced a symbolic mgaya — the Atayal word for a “headhunt”— against the Republic of China (ROC) government on Sunday, the eve of the ROC’s centennial celebrations.
After performing a traditional song and dance, Sediq National Assembly spokesman Watan Diro, in a traditional Sediq outfit, took out a knife and cut in half a sign with the number “100” and the phrase “A Spectacular Century; Republic of China” — which is the official slogan for the ROC’s centennial celebrations.
It was a gesture of discontent toward the ROC government, Wantan said, as the ROC government, like the Japanese colonial government that preceded it, is a repressive foreign regime to Taiwan’s Aborigines who have been living on the island for thousands of years.
Photo: CNA
“We, Taiwan’s Aboriginal peoples, refuse to join the celebrations for the illegitimate ROC regime’s 100th anniversary,” said Indigenous Peoples’ Action Coalition Taiwan secretary-general Omi Wilang, an Atayal Aboriginal. “We have nothing to celebrate, as the Aborigines have only suffered under the ROC government.”
For instance, Omi said, the ROC government has always — and still tries to — store nuclear waste in traditional Aboriginal domains; a nuclear waste dump is operating on Orchid Island (蘭嶼), where more than 90 percent of the residents are Aboriginal Tao, and a new nuclear waste storage facility is planned for construction in Daren Township (達仁), Taitung County, a traditional domain of the Paiwan.
Echoing Omi, Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ Policies Association president Oto Micyang, an Amis Aborigine, said land disputes between the central government and Aborigines that have recently surfaced are also evidence of injustices the ROC has forced upon the Aborigines.
“The Japanese took our lands by force and at the end of World War II, many tribal elders were expecting to finally get their lands back,” Oto said. “Instead of returning the lands to Aborigines, the ROC government simply took over the land for itself.”
“I don’t know how we should join the ROC celebrations and how we can teach our children to respect the ROC,” said Daya Dakasi (官大偉), an assistant professor at National Chengchi University’s Department of Ethnology, an Atayal. “The ROC has taken natural resources that belong to Aborigines, occupies our lands and collaborates with capitalists and big corporations to plan large-scale development projects without consulting our peoples.”
Daya added that despite the Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民族基本法), which grants Aborigines autonomy, land, culture and natural resource rights, “the ROC government has failed to pass relevant laws and the promises to protect our rights are still unfulfilled.”
Representatives from all Aboriginal communities will gather at the Central Arts Park in Taipei City at 4pm on Sunday to perform the mgaya ceremony, which will be followed by music and cultural performances that begin at 6pm.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner