The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday denied Aboriginal status to the Siraya people of the Pingpu Aborigines.
Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) said he regretted the decision and called on the incoming Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to back the Siraya’s cause.
The ruling was in favor of the stance and policies of the Council of Indigenous Peoples, and against the plaintiffs — Siraya rights campaigners and organizations whose home communities are in Tainan and other areas in the south — who filed an administrative lawsuit in 2010 and have since appealed lower court rulings.
“We are disheartened to once again hear that the court has sided with the government and rejected our rightful request for Aboriginal recognition. Our fight to gain the restoration of our Aboriginal status has taken more than two decades,” Tainan Siraya Culture Association secretary-general Uma Talavan said. “Justice was not served with this ruling, but we will carry on with the campaign to fight for Aboriginal status for the Siraya people.”
Talavan urged the public to support the campaign because it would restore the historic rights of one of the original communities in Taiwan, saying that they had Aboriginal status under the Japanese colonial administration, but the status was removed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime in the 1950s and they have been excluded from the political system ever since.
Siraya campaigners pledged to appeal to the Council of Grand Justices for a constitutional interpretation.
Lai, a DPP member, has given his full backing to efforts by the Siraya to gain recognition, with Tainan granting them Aborginal status at the municipal level. Almost all other county and municipal governments refuse to recognize Pingpu Aboriginal groups.
“We regret the court’s ruling and will support the cause all the way to make an appeal. This shows that the Siraya are still being excluded by the nation’s laws,” Lai said.
He called on fellow DPP officials to support the cause.
“The DPP government will be in power soon and it should help the Siraya gain Aboriginal status. This was among one of president-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) platform policies on Aboriginal communities during her election campaign,” he said. “We hope the incoming government uses its executive power to reach this objective and finish the judicial procedures so that the Siraya can gain Aboriginal status.”
Siraya are among the 10 Pingpu Aboriginal communities, also known as lowland plains Aborigines, who are the original Austronesian people of the island, but have been denied recognition by successive KMT governments.
The other Pingpu groups living in rural areas in clan-based village communities are the Babuza, Hoanya, Kaxabu, Ketagalan, Makatao, Pazeh, Papora, Taokas and Tavorlong.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS