The Foundation of Ocean Taiwan yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Vaka Taumako Project of the Solomon Islands’ board of trustees, with the two sides vowing to promote indigenous ocean cultures.
The board was represented by chairman Simon Scalopuka, who has been sharing the Solomon Islands’ seafaring customs with the Farangaw community of Amis people in Taitung County.
The signing forum at the National 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei was hosted by the foundation, with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) and Solomon Islands Ambassador to Taiwan Joseph Pius Waleanisia serving as witnesses.
Many Taiwanese look toward China in the west, but Aborigines’ relatives are to the east in the Pacific Ocean, forum coordinator and DPP Legislator Kolas Yotaka said.
To reconnect with people of the same origin, many Aboriginal communities in Taiwan have started to revive the tradition of making bamboo boats, she said.
Reviving the art of boat making is not merely about seafaring — it is part of a cultural renaissance for the nation’s Aborigines, whose cultures have been eclipsed by those of foreign regimes over the past four centuries, she added.
With the help of Scalopuka and other cultural experts, community members have built a sailing boat following the Amis tradition, Council for Farangaw Autonomy chairman Raranges Hoki Na Tungaw (羅福慶) said, adding that it first sailed in September.
Bamboo boats played a crucial role in the Austronesian diaspora, which spread to other Pacific islands from Taiwan, said foundation chief executive Liu Chiung-hsi (劉炯錫), who is also a professor at the National Taitung University Department of Life Science.
As part of its New Southbound Policy, the government should help revitalize the seafaring traditions of Aborigines and galvanize cultural exchanges among Austronesian peoples, Liu said.
Meanwhile, Academia Sinica Biodiversity Research Center researcher Jeng Ming-shiou (鄭明修) reminded the forum’s audience of their relation to the ocean.
The nation is surrounded by water, but “Taiwan only has seafood culture, no ocean culture,” he said.
“Natural resources are the tourism industry’s only sustainable wealth,” he said, adding that Taiwanese should get to know the surrounding seas and marine life.
Instead of relying on police to catch those who pollute the seas, people should come together to protect the environment, he said.
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