The Siraya people are to file an administrative suit with the High Administrative Court regarding their official indigenous status, and will be accompanied by Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德).
The Greater Tainan City Government has been helping the group “right their name” and regain their indigenous status, holding a forum on the recognition of the group and an information meeting about the administrative lawsuit at the Tainan Siraya Cultural Hall yesterday, in which the Siraya people announced a recognition declaration and academics made speeches.
Lai said the Siraya people are “Taiwanese plains Aborigines,” who had been recognized by the former Tainan County Government as a “county-recognized indigenous group,” and have continued to be acknowledged by the special municipality as a “city-recognized indigenous group” after the merger of Tainan County and Tainan City.
Photo: Lin Meng-ting, Taipei Times
However, the Siraya people have not been officially recognized on a national level, Lai said.
“People without human rights are as if they have no souls,” Siraya Cultural Association head Wan Cheng-hsiung (萬正雄) said.
The Siraya people have been living on this land for more than 400 years, but the Sirayan culture has been repressed and destroyed by a series of foreign regimes, Wan said, adding that the Siraya people were hoping to achieve “historical justice” and secure their human rights through the recognition movement.
Tainan Ethnic Affairs Commission (EAC) director Wang Chi-min (汪志敏) said the recognition of a person’s identity is a natural right that they cannot be deprived of.
By making great efforts and progress on cultural restoration, including the preservation of the group’s music and traditional rituals, and the reconstruction of tribes, the Siraya people have rebuilt their self-identity, Wang said.
However, petitioning attempts in recent years to urge the government to have the Siraya people officially listed as one of the nation’s recognized Aboriginal groups have been repeatedly rejected by the Executive Yuan, EAC Preparation Committee of the Siraya People Affairs executive secretary Wan Shu-chuan (萬淑娟) said.
Appeals lodged against the decisions have also been turned down, she added.
The recognition movement has now entered the judicial stage and the Siraya people plan to arrive in Taipei on Wednesday to file an administrative lawsuit with the High Administrative Court.
Saying that he would be accompanying the group to Taipei, Lai expressed his hope that the case could be resolved during his term, adding that bringing the case to the Constitutional Court, if needed, is an option.
Additional reporting by CNA
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
RSS