If the National Taiwan Museum can't take good care of its Aboriginal relics, then the prized objects should be put into better hands -- those of the Aborigines' themselves -- two lawmakers said yesterday.
"Noting the museum's dismal record of care for the relics, we, the Aborigines, wish to care for these treasures ourselves," said DPP legislator Chen Tao-ming (陳道明), a descendant of the Taroko tribe.
"Since there is yet to be a public museum dedicated exclusively to Aborigines," he added, "we strongly recommend that one be built to display the arts and cultures of the land's earliest settlers."
Chen made the comments yesterday after a tour of the museum's storage rooms with independent lawmaker Kao-Chin Su-mei (高金素梅), a descendant of the Atayal tribe.
Both lawmakers voiced their dissatisfaction over the way the museum managed its collection in the storage rooms.
"While some storage rooms are in good condition," Chen said, "the condition of some others is simply quite ridiculous."
Kao echoed Chen's remarks, noting that the museum's Hsintien storage room lacks decent care and "that dust and spider webs can be seen everywhere."
"If tribal elders came and saw the way our ancestral relics are being kept here, they would definitely feel heartache," Kao said.
Kao added that it was regrettable to see these relics, left behind by their ancestors decades ago, kept in such miserable condition and under such dismal inventory-monitoring practices.
Kao was referring to the fact, disclosed by DPP legislator Chen Chin-jun (
"If the museum can't take adequate care of its Aboriginal collection, then they should let us Aborigines care for them ourselves in our own museum," said Kao.
In response to the dissatisfaction both Chen and Kao expressed over the way the museum has managed its collection, James An (安奎), director of the National Taiwan Museum, said that the museum currently has a task force taking inventory of the relics.
"Aside from improving the condition of the storage rooms, we hope to have preliminary inventory results within the next three months," said An, adding that any irregularities found during the inventory process would be reported to experts for further investigation.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
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The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
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