Dozens of Aborigines representing various tribes throughout the country yesterday gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office to voice their anger at the Republic of China (ROC) government’s occupation of Aboriginal land as they performed a traditional ritual to drive away evil spirits.
“Let’s kick the ROC government out of here. Let’s kick the ROC government off the land that our ancestors passed down to us. Let’s drive away the evil spirits that come from this government,” an elder Amis shaman sang in a traditional Amis song, while waving a piece of banana leaf.
Hsiao Shih-huei (蕭世暉), a member of the Association of Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ Policies explained the meaning of the ritual to reporters.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
“What she is doing is a ritual that proceeds a headhunt to point out to a villages’ warriors where the evil spirits are,” Hsiao said. “For the Aborigines, a headhunt is a way to clear away evil spirits that are causing harm to their village.”
Before the headhunt began, the leader of the warriors prayed to an ancestral spirit and spat millet wine on everyone participating to bless them.
As the shaman pointed to the Presidential Office to indicate the direction from where the evil spirits resided, the warriors ran toward it, shouting, pointing their pikes and miscanthus stems at the building.
Hsiao said the Amis believe miscanthus — a grass — can protect them from the evil spirits.
After repeating the act, the shaman said they had successfully driven away the evil spirits. The men cheered and performed a symbolic headhunt by attacking a ball wrapped with an ROC flag. After taking the “head,” the warriors tied it to a spike with miscanthus.
One by one, warriors poked the flag with miscanthus, a symbolic gesture to vanquish the evil spirit before the head would be taken back to the village as a trophy.
Although several tribes were represented at the event, the ritual was performed according to Amis tradition, as Amis from Hualien and Taitung counties outnumbered other tribes and are impacted more by the government’s handling of Aboriginal land, organizers said.
Indigenous Peoples’ Actions Coalition of Taiwan secretary-general Omi Wilang, an Atayal, said Aborigines were fed up with the ROC government’s disrespect for Taiwan’s first inhabitants.
“We’ve been here for thousands of years and the ROC is only going to celebrate its 100th anniversary — not to mention that the ROC has actually only been on Taiwan for more than 60 years,” Omi said. “The ROC is no different from the Japanese colonial government, as both seized our lands and repressed our cultures and languages.”
A rally was held in the evening for each village that has fallen victim of government-land use policies.
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