Taiwan Church News
3360 Edition
July 18 – 24, 2016
Headline News
PCT Protests Absence Of Investigative Powers Under President Tsai’s Aboriginal Transitional Justice
Reported by Chiu Kuo-rong
On July 12, recruiting the elected indigenous law-makers and local party officials, the department of Indigenous Affairs of Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) launches a press conference announcing President Tsai Ing-wen, who is also DPP’s chairwomen, will officially apologize on August 1 for past government’s injustice and wrong-doings to the aboriginal peoples on Taiwan.
In the meantime, in order to find out the injustice imposed on aborigines and restore their judiciary rights on land, autonomy, education, culture and etc, President Tsai will establish an aboriginal transitional justice committee under the Presidential Office to investigate the historical truth of the past injustice and speed up the related legislature of The Indigenous Peoples Basic Law, says DPP.
Against this DPP stance in press conference, Rev. Omi Wilang, secretary of PCT’s Committee of Indigenous Ministry, openly questions how aboriginal transitional justice could be materialized when the investigative powers are acknowledged to be legally absent from the committee under the Presidential Office!
Many legal experts and scholars, even distinguished DPP law-makers like Wellington Kuo and Yu Mei-nu, express their doubt of any substantial rights of investigation existing under President Tsai’s aboriginal transitional justice committee and suggest a chapter of aboriginal transitional justice should be set up in the draft of the impending Transitional Justice Bill.
In his facebook website, Wudu Mijan, chairman of Association for Taiwan Indigenous People’s Policy(ATIPP), denounces the mind set of DPP’s aboriginal justice turning deaf toward the request of those social movements of aborigines. “Without (aboriginal) transitional justice, The Indigenous Peoples Basic Law will be marginalized and empty!”, says Wudu Mijan.
Translated by Peter Wolfe
Rev. Omi Wilang, together with some citizens, protested before the government’s building.
An Archive Photo by ATIPP
