PCT decries government and corporate violation of Aboriginal property rights

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

3092 Edition

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.

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