Several Aboriginal rights advocates yesterday lashed out at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for not keeping his promise to implement Aboriginal autonomy, for delaying reconstruction for victims of Typhoon Morakot and for his government’s inability to root out ethnic discrimination.
“Ma has been in power for three years now, and for us Aborigines, the past three years have been three years of suffering,” Icyang Parod, director of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of Aboriginal Affairs, told a press conference in Taipei.
“Aboriginal autonomy has not become a reality as Ma promised during the presidential campaign, ethnic discrimination against Aborigines remains and victims of Typhoon Morakot are still homeless,” Icyang said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
By discrimination, Icyang was referring to the recent controversy sparked by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee member Liao Wan-lung’s (廖萬隆) suggestion to a Central Standing Committee meeting that intermarriage between Aborigines and non-Aborigines be discouraged to maintain the “purity” of Aboriginal blood. Liao caused more outrage when he tried to clarify his remark by later telling reporters that most Aborigines are “mongrels.”
Aborgines were also upset in March by a Mainland Affairs Council-sponsored TV ad that referred to them as pa-nga, an Amis word for penis or “loose women.”
Taiwan Aboriginal Society president Tibusungu’e Vayayana said Ma’s administraion failed to respect Aboriginal rights to the environment and to autonomy. He also complained about the government’s slow progress in reconstruction of mostly Aboriginal regions devastated by Morakot.
In Alishan Township (阿里山), Chiayi County, where he comes from, “23 bridges were damaged during the storm and only one was rebuilt — by a non-governmental organization,” he said.
Government officials had promised to allocate government land for reconstruction projects, but “when the reconstruction process really started, the government unilaterally changed its mind and decided to take private land for reconstruction instead, without having discussed it with us,” he said.
“The government under Ma’s leadership is a disaster just like Morakot, only it’s one that’s been around for three years,” he said.
Hsu Cheng-wan (徐成丸), a chieftain of the Sakiraya tribe in Hualien County, said he voted for Ma in 2008, but “I would say that we should stand united and boycott Ma in the next election.”
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to