The legislature yesterday passed an amendment that allows people with only one indigenous parent to register to obtain indigenous status.
The amendment to the Status Act For Indigenous Peoples (原住民身分法) follows a Constitutional Court ruling issued last year that deemed unconstitutional a provision granting indigenous status to people with only one indigenous parent based strictly on their name.
That ruling also upheld the right of adopted children to seek indigenous status.
Photo courtesy of the Council of Indigenous Peoples
“In practical terms, it increases the number of people with official indigenous status,” Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod said.
As a result, the government would seek to boost the budget for indigenous peoples, for social welfare and other subsidies, he said.
In the past, if only the mother had indigenous status, when the child registered under their father’s surname, they would not be recognized as an indigenous person.
The Constitutional Court said that requirement contravened Article 7 of the Constitution, which stipulates that all people are equal under the law, regardless of gender.
Now, a child of one indigenous parent can gain indigenous status by registering with the traditional name of their indigenous parent, or with an indigenous name and a Chinese name, or by registering with the surname of their indigenous parent, but not their traditional indigenous name, Icyang said.
Ministry of the Interior data from the end of last year, showed that the nation’s indigenous population is rising, with about 584,000 people, 0.6 percent more than 2021, from the 17 recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan, which was 2.5 percent of the nation’s total population.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS