Aboriginal rights advocates yesterday protested a proposed amendment to the Act for the Utilization and Transfer of Reserved Mountainous Land (山坡地保育利用條例) that seeks to relax restrictions on the transfer of Aboriginal reserve land, worrying it may accelerate the loss of Aboriginal land to non-Aborigines.
The existing law stipulates that, after obtaining ownership of a plot of Aboriginal reserve land, an Aboriginal person is required to hold it for at least five years before it can be sold.
Several Aboriginal lawmakers — Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Jeng Tian-tsair (鄭天財) and Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) of the Amis tribe, Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) of the Sediq and Chien Tung-ming (簡東明) of the Paiwan; People First Party Legislator Lin Cheng-er (林正二) of the Amis; and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) of the Atayal — have jointly proposed an amendment to do away with the five-year rule.
“If the amendment is passed, it would accelerate the loss of Aboriginal reserve land, since a lot of Aboriginal reserve land is being occupied by non-Aborigines for developing luxury houses, boutique hotels or resorts,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) told a press conference.
“The restriction should not be relaxed until there’s a way to prevent such a problem occuring,” he said.
Lin Chang-mao (林長茂) of the Green Formosa Front said that in Fusing Township (復興), Taoyuan County, a traditional domain of the Atayals, as much as 70 percent of the land is being used by non-Aborigines.
“At the moment, a private developer is planning a project which would occupy 145.72 hectares of mostly Aboriginal reserve land in Fusing. So far, 60 hectares of land is yet to be acquired due to the five-year rule,” Lin said.
“If the five-year rule is voided, non-Aboriginal developers could get hold of Aboriginal land immediately,” he added.
Jeng, the leading proposer of the amendment, disagreed with the advocates at a separate setting.
“The reason why I’ve proposed the amendment is that I think Aborigines should be given the same right as non-Aborigines when handling their land — if there’s no five-year rule for non-Aborigines, why should owners of Aboriginal land have to wait for five years before being allowed to sell?” Jeng said.
“There’s no need to worry about Aborigines losing their land, because according to the law, ownership of Aboriginal reserve land can only be transferred to another Aborigine,” he added.
He said there were non-Aborigines who would utilize Aboriginal reserve land by using an Aborigine as proxy to buy the land.
“But instead of putting restrictions on Aborigines, the government should go after non-Aborigines engaged in unlawful activities,” he said.
READY: The CGA said it closely monitored China’s maritime exercise, deployed vessels to shadow the Chinese ships one-on-one and set up emergency response centers Chinese navy and coast guard ships have returned to China, signaling the end of a massive maritime exercise, authorities said yesterday. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) released images it said showed Chinese vessels sailing north in rough seas past Taiwan on Thursday, on their way to China. “All the Chinese coast guard went back to China yesterday, so although they have not officially made any announcement, we consider it over,” CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said. Beijing has not confirmed the drills and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: As some roads would be fully or partially closed, people are advised to take the MRT, with services expanded to accommodate more riders This year’s Taipei Marathon, which has obtained its first gold label certification from World Athletics, is to be held from 5am to 1pm tomorrow and would have 28,000 participants. The race is to start from the Taipei City Plaza and would go through major roads throughout the city, with traffic control implemented from 6am to 2pm, officials said. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and New Taipei City MRT Circle line would start operating at 5am on the day of the race, they said. The race would cover Renai Road, Xinyi Road, Hangzhou S Road, Aiguo east and west roads,
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
RSS