Aboriginal campaigners from Orchid Island (
The group of 20 Tao campaigners -- referred to as Yami by both the KMT and scholars in the past -- included elders from the tribe dressed in traditional outfits. They pledged to form an alliance with eight other ethnic groups in order to press the new government to give priority to Aboriginal autonomy.
"The new government should propose a timetable for autonomy on the basis of partnership and give Orchid Island its autonomy by 2004," said Tao representative Syaman Rapongan (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Last September, Chen signed a bilateral agreement, or "new partnership" document, with 11 representatives from Aboriginal ethnic groups.
In the agreement, Chen recognized many privileges and rights that the Aborigines would like to implement, such as local autonomy and native ownership of land.
The 45-square-kilometer Orchid Island is located to the southeast of Taiwan and has a population of about 3,000 indigenous Tao residents. Due to its isolation and unique culture, Orchid Island has been widely considered an ideal place to implement Aboriginal autonomy.
Campaigners petitioned the Executive Yuan yesterday and requested to meet Vice Premier Yu Shyi-kun. However, Yu was chairing a meeting and was unable to receive the petitioners.
The campaigners then compared the new government to that of the KMT. "We want to severely censure the new government. They are behaving just like the old government," said Taitung County Councilor Shyman Faagien (郭建平).
"We are facing cultural loss and ethnic extinction. Autonomy is the only way for us to survive," he said, emphasizing that autonomy was also in keeping with the cultural diversity in Taiwan.
A group of Aboriginal lawmakers headed by Walis Pelin (
"We hope it will function as an Aboriginal constitution, allowing the formation of an Aboriginal congress," he said.
The Tao want to be able to have their own education system, land ownership, administrative independence and have more control over the development of Orchid Island.
In addition to autonomy, the removal of nuclear waste stored on the island was another main concern of campaigners.
"The nuclear waste has been our nightmare for decades and has caused many strange diseases and mental problems for our people," a Tao senior said, speaking in his mother tongue.
According to campaigners, the leakage of nuclear waste from over 30,000 rusty barrels that are stored on the island is thought to be the main cause of both a high cancer death rate and the birth of over 50 physically handicapped children.
They charged that Taipower and the Atomic Energy Council had lied to them in order to establish a nuclear waste storage site there in 1980.
"They cheated us by saying they were going to build a can factory," said campaigners.
Since 1987, the Tao people have demonstrated against the stored nuclear waste.
In 1988 they blockaded the harbor and successfully stopped a nuclear waste shipment from being unloaded. This was their most successful anti-nuclear activity to date and surprised anti-nuclear activists all over the world.
The success, however, was short-lived. The next shipment of nuclear waste arrived as scheduled. Currently, there are around 96,000 barrels of nuclear waste stored on the island.
Earlier this year Taipower signed an extension contract with the township government of Orchid Island which will allow the waste to be stored on the island until 2002, with Taipower agreeing to pay compensation of NT$2.80 million to residents.
"But most locals were not told of the contract extension," said campaigner Syaman Inagnik (周貴光). He said the Ministry of Economic Affairs had not approved the contract nor the compensation yet. "It needs further discussion by the new government," he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS