Aboriginal groups and law experts yesterday slammed the Cabinet’s draft autonomy act, saying lawsuits would be filed domestically and internationally if the legislature approved it in the current legislative session.
The Indigenous Peoples Action Coalition of Taiwan yesterday released a statement saying the Cabinet’s proposal was disrespectful, unconstitutional and violated the Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民基本法).
The statement said the Aboriginal autonomous act proposed by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration was a backward bill that violated the Constitution and the current global trend of respecting Aborigines’ rights.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Representatives from the coalition called on legislators to boycott the bill and also urged Aborigines not to vote for Ma and the -Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the election Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections.
Describing the bill as an “empty shell,” National Dong Hwa University College of Indigenous Studies director Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) said the bill did not grant Aborigines their own land.
This being so, Shih asked how Aborigines could establish their autonomous regions.
He said the bill stipulated that Aborigines could establish offices and councils in their respective tribes, but it did not abolish current administrative districts. This means that any executive decisions made by tribal regions would have to negotiate with township and county governments, which means they would be likely to go nowhere.
Amis representative Konon Panay (古孟巴奈) said the central government did not define and grant Aboriginal lands, but it has been depriving Aborigines of their lands in the name of development.
The Eastern Development Act (東部發展條例) was approved in June by the legislature and aims to develop land in Hualien and Taitung counties, allowing big developers to destroy land traditionally owned by Aborigines and threatening to ruin the lives of Amis Aborigines, Panay said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀) has been sentenced to three years in prison, fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,890) in personal assets and deprived political rights for one year for “inciting secession” in China, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said today. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict on Feb. 17, Chen said. The trial was conducted lawfully, and in an open and fair manner, he said, adding that the verdict has since come into legal effect. The defendant reportedly admitted guilt and would appeal within the statutory appeal period, he said, adding that the defendant and his family have
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS