The Council of Indigenous Peoples last week discussed with the Ministry of the Interior whether Aborigines should be required to register for property rights in indigenous reservations -- but no consensus was reached.
This was the third meeting on the issue, but the ministry was intent on applying Article 37 of the Act for the Utilization and Transfer of Reserved Mountainous Land(
Registration
The article requires Aborigines to register before obtaining cultivation rights, land surface rights and lease rights. After five years, claimants are entitled to gratis ownership, except for land designated for special purposes by the government. Transfer of land ownership is presently limited to between indigenous people.
The council argued that reservation land originally belonged to Aborigines, Kacaw said. He said that the ministry should change its regulations to acknowledge this. Reservations remain national property, Kacaw said.
Teyra Yudaw, chairman of the Truku Self-Government Promotion Commission, said that reservations are meant for Aboriginal people and that full title should therefore be returned to them.
The government said that it wanted to protect Aboriginal land from the encroaching Han population, but such protection has instead turned into limitations on Aboriginal people, he said.
Restrictions
For example, Yudaw said, a development fund the government has earmarked for Aboriginal entrepreneurs to do business within reservations is unfeasible because of the restrictions, he said.
Yudaw said that most banks were unwilling to handle loans from the fund, because they believe that ventures on indigenous reservations would be unprofitable.
The government has also stripped Aborigines of their rights by illegally developing reservation land without their consent, he said.
According to the Aboriginal Basic Law (原住民族基本法) passed last year, state-run and private companies are prohibited from using or developing land belonging to Aborigines without prior consultation, agreement or Aboriginal participation.
However, in the Truku reservation in Hualien County's Hsiulin Township (
Death threats
Asia Cement operatives have threatened to have traditional owners and Aboriginal activists killed because of their continuing campaign against the company's illegal appropriation of Aboriginal land. Asia Cement is part of the Far Eastern Group of companies.
Another example of state exploitation of traditional Aboriginal land is the Taroko National Park, Yudaw said. He said that the government has allowed hotels, restaurants and vendors into places within the park from where Truku villages had been forcibly resettled in decades before.
"The government has not considered the Aborigines at all but instead violated the rights of our people," Yudaw said. "They [the government] should have a conscience and return the land to the rightful Aboriginal owners."
The council said more meetings with the ministry would take place, but there was little optimism that much progress could be made in the near term.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS