Aborigines demand proprietary justice

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

3076 Edition
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.



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