wfn.org | TCN Editorial: When people from different ethnicities join hands

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>2996 Edition

>July 27~August 2, 2009

Editorial: When people from different ethnicities join hands

>Translated by Lydia Ma

>There is an ironic story that goes like this:

During one vacation trip, a businessman visited an island and  discovered that

aborigines living there spent two or three hours every day  catching three fish before

heading home to play and rest and enjoy the day. The businessman  asked one of them

why they only caught three fish every day and the aborigine  replied, “Well, three fish

is enough to feed our families for one day.”

Upon hearing this, the businessman said condescendingly, “If  you would spend ten

hours fishing every day, you could catch ten fish and then sell  seven of them. With

profits from the sale, you would be able to buy fishing equipment  to catch even more

fish. When you sell even more fish afterward, you would have money  to hire people to

work for you and they would take care of everything so that you  wouldn’t need to

>work.”

“I wouldn’t need to work? What would I do then?”  asked the aborigine. The

businessman replied cockily, “Well, you would be able to go  fishing by the sea!” To

this, the aborigine asked with a confused expression, “Just  like what I’m doing now?”

In this story, the environmental-friendly aborigine is a sharp  contrast to the businessman. The

businessman thought that the most important thing in life was to  earn money by catching as

much fish as possible, but his perspective was challenged when he  had a conversation with

the aborigine. From a different angle, this conversation is a  great example of how wonderful

and fulfilling exchanges between people of different cultures can  be.

Taiwan is a multi-ethnic society and we ought to learn and  appreciate the conventional

wisdom of every ethnic group. We must not be like the businessman  in the story who felt

superior to others and wanted to impose his views on others. When  feelings of superiority

and conceit get out of hand, they can easily lead to conflict, and  history is replete with

>examples of such instances.

When people from different cultures live together, they experience  other cultures and this

sets an important foundation for their lives because they learn to  appreciate every culture and

get rid of their self-righteous attitudes. Such experiences also  teach people to live and

>flourish together.

The United Nations passed the “Convention Concerning  Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in

Independent Countries” in 1989 and set aside August 9 as the  “International Day of the

World’s Indigenous People” in 1993 to remind every  country to remember the contributions

made by aborigines to contemporary society, culture, and  environment, and protect the

>rights and benefits of aborigines.

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) led the way in Taiwan by  recognizing the identity

and status of aborigines as an ethnic group. During its 36th  General Assembly Annual

Meeting in 1989, the PCT decided to rename all  “Mountain” churches to “Aboriginal”

churches and issued a public apology to all aborigines and  churches for failing to respect the

identity and human rights of aborigines in Taiwan in the past.

The PCT’s actions had a ripple effect and prompted the  national government to amend

Taiwan’s constitution on August 1st, 1994, so that  “Mountain People” would officially be

known and changed to “Aborigines” from that time on. The  Executive Yuan later declared in

2005 that August 1st would be remembered as “Taiwan  Indigenous Peoples Day”.

Recently, the Siraya people have actively lobbied the central  government to recognize them

as aboriginals but their requests have repeatedly been denied. The  reason cited by the

government for turning down this request was that any ethnic group  desiring to be recognized

as “aboriginal” must first obtain approval from  aboriginal tribes that are currently recognized

by the government, otherwise, no ethnic group can be recognized as  an aboriginal tribe. On

the eve of “Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Day”, such a  response is truly ironic.

However, when the government coldly brushed aside the identity of  Siraya people, other

aboriginal tribes responded instead by opening their hearts and  welcoming Siraya people to

become part of the aboriginal family and recognizing Siraya’s  God-given identity. The

warmth and openness displayed by these aborigines when they  embraced Siraya people is

truly a beautiful example for all to see and follow.

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