The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Organization Act of the Council of Indigenous Peoples (原住民族委員會組織法) stipulating that the head of the Council of Indigenous Peoples would rotate between members of lowland and mountain indigenous groups while committee members from all indigenous groups would no longer be paid wages.
The amendments also state that two of the three deputy ministers must be from lowland and mountain indigenous groups.
The council should have between 19 and 29 members serving a term of two years, and they would be allowed to serve consecutive terms, the amendments say.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The amendments also state that the positions would be unpaid.
The Council of Indigenous Peoples yesterday said the amendments severely undercut indigenous people’s rights, adding that it plans to contest the amendments or ask for the Constitutional Court for an interpretation.
The appointment of a minister to the council should be based on ability, and a policy forcing the rotation of such a position would prevent talented people from being selected, it said.
The amendments are at risk of legal overreach as they infringe on the premier’s right to appoint personnel, which contravenes Article 53 of the Constitution and Constitutional Interpretation No. 613, it added.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Saidhai Tahovecahe (伍麗華) said that separating lowland and mountain indigenous groups was an antiquated relic of colonialism and that the amendment contravened the Constitution.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sra Kacaw (鄭天財), one of the people who proposed the amendment, rebutted the accusation that the distinction was a relic of colonialism, citing how the distinction has been maintained by all iterations of the Local Government Act (地方制度法) throughout the years.
The amendment was a move to support indigenous peoples’ right to politics, he said.
Independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), co-author of the amendment, said that Saidhai Tahovecahe and others stood to benefit from the current system, adding that if every member of the council represented their people, 14 out of 16 would be DPP supporters.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) said that it was wrong for the DPP to place their supporters in the council and be paid by the state.
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