February 7-13, 2011
Headline News
Aborigines demand proprietary justice
Reported by Chen Chin-wan
Written by Lydia Ma
Pangcah Amis Alliance spearheaded an overnight sit-in rally on January 28-29, 2011, to raise awareness and defend their land rights. 11 Aborigine elders representing various tribes were selected to go and hand deliver a petition to President Ma at the Presidential Palace early in the morning, urging him to respect Aborigine land rights
Though Aborigines came away humiliated and disappointed because they weren’t treated as equals, had to enter through the side door, and had their requests denied, the Alliance vowed that a bigger rally would be planned in the near future.
According to Aborigines gathered on that day, one plot of land in Taiwan’s east coast which originally belonged to Aborigines was appropriated and converted into government land after township government administrators claimed that registration documents for this plot were lost.
One Aborigine in Hualien voiced her displeasure at encountering many challenges and obstacles when she tried to get local government officials to work with her in preserving the land and getting registration.
Another woman voiced her worry that untapped forest lands belonging to the government may be converted into tourist attraction sites, which will in turn pollute the land when infrastructure or sewage systems are built. She is worried that future generations will not have any safe place to play or fish for a living if the government allows resorts to move in through policies that encourage tourism.
