wfn.org | TCN: Aboriginals think twice before restoring their original names

["Lydia Ma" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>Taiwan Church News

>2974 Edition

>February 23~March 1, 2009

Aboriginals think twice before restoring their original names

>Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

>Written by Lydia Ma

Presbyterian Church in Taiwan Aboriginal Tayal Presbytery’s Mrqwang  Church is encouraging all of its members to restore their original names  on their national identification cards. So far, only twenty members have  done so, which amounts to approximately one-third of church members.

According to data released by the Ministry of Interior Household  Registration Affairs, a total of 12,001 aboriginals had changed their  Han Chinese names to aboriginal names as of November 2007, an equivalent  of 2% of the total aboriginal population.

Pastor Tulhuan Muni from Mrqwang Church encouraged her church members to  change their Han Chinese names to their original names in aboriginal  language. When  commenting on these statistics, she said the government  was not doing enough to promote aboriginal culture, or teach aboriginals  to appreciate their culture.

“My daughter is in an elementary school where all her classmates  are aboriginals who live in tribal reservations,” said Tulhuan  Muni. “However, all of her classmates use Han Chinese names and she  is the only student in the entire school that goes by a Tayal  name.”

Tulhuan Muni also said that her niece, who lives in a Tayal reservation  in Ilan area and goes to a local school made up of aboriginals, also  faces similar circumstances. Her niece is also the only student that  uses her aboriginal name.

>From these cases, it is evident that most aboriginals have grown used to  being known and calling each other by their Han Chinese names. This is  especially evident among aboriginals who live in the plains. In  contrast, aboriginals residing in mountain reserves, regardless of age,  still call each other by their aboriginal names. Tulhuan Muni said that  the younger generation of aboriginals who live in Ilan even feel that  aboriginal names “sound bad”, are mostly used by  “mountain aboriginals”, and should not be used by aboriginals  who live in the plains.

Responding to such comments, Tulhuan Muni admits that such thinking is  indeed prevalent among schoolchildren who live in tribal areas closer to  the city. In an era where multiculturalism is being promoted across  Taiwan, the impression that Han Chinese culture or language is superior  to aboriginal culture or language is still deeply engrained in the minds  of the younger generation of aboriginals, preventing them from embracing  their own culture.

Speaking on restoring aboriginal names, Pastor Yawi Nomin from Skikun  Church in Ilan’s Tayal Presbytery pointed out that aboriginal names  should all be written in Romanized Taiwanese instead of Chinese  characters because the meaning and pronunciation of aboriginal names  cannot be fully translated into Chinese characters. He argued that using  Chinese characters to spell out aboriginal names would only disturb the  naming system aboriginals use and cause further confusion.

Of all aboriginals who changed their names, 80% chose to have their Han  Chinese names displayed alongside their aboriginal names written in Han  Chinese characters and 18% chose to replacement altogether.

However, government records also reveal that there were 169 aboriginals  who restored their names into aboriginal language but could not get used  to it and reversed their decisions later. This number corresponds to  less than 1% of the total number of people who changed their names.

Commenting on the low percentage of aboriginals who have restored their  original names, some experts suggest that inefficient policy  administration, lack of ethnic identity, difficulty in converting  aboriginal names into Han Chinese or Romanized Taiwanese characters, and  fear of being ostracized or labeled by a society that is not yet used to  multiculturalism, could be factors explaining why so few aboriginals  have come forward to change their names.

“Changing our names in our national identification cards is very  inconvenient at work!” exclaimed one elder who attends an urban  aboriginal church. This elder commented that Taiwanese people cannot  remember aboriginal names and continuing the use of Han Chinese names is  good for aboriginals living in cities. Furthermore, aboriginals who  decide to switch back to aboriginal names must endure the hassle of  changing all their identification documents, a big inconvenience that  could explain why many choose not to change their names.

Regarding the option of simultaneously displaying aboriginal and Han  Chinese names on documents, experts say experience has shown that  aboriginals who go by both names usually revert back to using Han  Chinese names publicly and using aboriginal names in private within  seven generations.

According to records from the Ministry of Interior Household  Registration Affairs, only 1% of aboriginal newborn babies are  registered using aboriginal names, which means that 99% of parents still  register their children using Han Chinese names.

This finding makes those who promote aboriginal culture wonder whether  the problem lies in the message the government has been sending to  aboriginals through the education system or in the indifferent attitude  aboriginals have when it comes to preserving their culture. They would  like to see this issue seriously addressed during tribal meetings.

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