May 30-June 5, 2011
Headline News
PCT decries government and corporate violation of Aboriginal property rights
Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan
Written by Lydia Ma
Amis Pangcah Alliance held a press conference on May 24, 2011, denouncing the Ma administration’s contempt for Aboriginal Basic Act because the latter had converted one of Taiwan Sugar Corporation’s lands into an urban, artificial forest. The land is considered one of the ancestral lands belonging to Amis Aboriginals though it is now owned by Taiwan Sugar – a public corporation.
During the press conference, many scholars joined Amis Aboriginals and alleged that Amis weren’t consulted at all regarding how this portion of land ought to be developed. Together, they urged the government to truly care about human rights and environmental justice for they thought it’d used art promotion and environmental conservation as pretext to shift focus away from ownership problems.
According to Amis, that parcel of land belonged to many tribes and was used for farming and hunting, as well as tribal festivities. They had worked the land and used it for meetings since 2005. Taking it away by building a park would literally reduce their land mass by one-third. It’d also be in violation of Aboriginal property rights as outlined in Aboriginal Basic Act.
National Dong-Hwa University Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Professor Hsia Yue-joe commented that he wasn’t against developing the land per say, but his conviction is that the land ought to be returned to its rightful owners before anything is decided about its future.
PCT Associate General Secretary Sing ‘Olam agreed with Hsia. He added that the government ought to respect Aboriginals in the area who had rights to own, manage, and use this land as they pleased. He lamented that the government seemed more and more out of touch with reality and contemptuous of human rights, Taiwan’s own Aboriginal Basic Act, and even UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Sing ‘Olam went on to say that PCT would be encouraging Aboriginal presbyteries to register themselves as foundations or juristic persons so that they’d have better means to protect their properties. He also assured Amis Aboriginals that PCT would stand by them all the way to fight against such injustices.
