Proposed self-government legislation for Aboriginal groups drew competing protests from Aboriginal activists yesterday.
Protesters from the Indigenous Youth Front faced off against a smaller group of older Aboriginal representatives led by a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) county councilor outside the Legislative Yuan.
The demonstrators shouted competing slogans before laying out their contrasting positions on the adequacy of the “Indigenous Self-Rule Temporary Regulations” (原住民族自治暫行條例) under consideration by the legislature.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Indigenous Youth Front protesters said that the bill would only allow for “bird cage” self-government, which they described as “crippled” and “fake.”
“This is not self-government — it is the functions of the Council of Indigenous Peoples being outsourced to villages,” Front member Savungaz Valincinan said, criticizing the law’s focus on culture and education, while failing to protect hunting rights and allow Aborigines to draft their own criminal and civil law.
“What self-rule should look like should be discussed and determined by villages,” she said. “Right now, the executive branch has pegged us into their pre-prepared frame.”
Valincinan said that the representative electoral system of government prescribed by the act would not square with the customs of all Aborigines, citing the example of the Amis, who she said traditionally divide different tribal responsibilities based on age.
In contrast to the act’s emphasis on adversarial majority rule, many Aboriginal communities favor a “collegial system” focusing on achieving an absolute consensus on major decisions, she said.
Front member Juan Chun-ta (阮俊達) said that the funding provided under the act was inadequate.
The budget for the “self-governments” to be established would be allocated directly by the Executive Yuan for the next 10 years, after which a “Self-Government Fund” worth NT$10 billion (US$306 million) would be established to fund future expenses.
“That figure is extremely small,” he said. “There is no way you can do much with that amount of revenue.”
He said that the annual budget of the Council of Indigenous Peoples is more than NT$8 billion, while the yearly budget of Chiayi City is NT$11 billion, even though its population is less than half of the nation’s Aborigines.
A group of older protesters led by KMT Hsinchu County Councilor Obay a Awi (趙一先) said that the bill would be a beginning that could lay the foundation for more substantial self-government.
Obay said that the bill was intended to help Aborigines learn the “basic motions” of self-government, rather than establishing the final framework.
He said that it would provide a source of legal authority for existing Aboriginal assemblies, while allowing their members to focus full time on drafting and discussing permanent self-government proposals.
He added that while he did not disagree with the competing protesters’ desire for broader self-government than that contained in the draft bill, he felt that their opposition was not “prudent” because there is no guarantee that a more far-reaching bill would pass if the current one were rejected.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by