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By
Loa Iok-sin／Staff Reporters Taipei
Times,Sat Jan 21,2012-Page3 |
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Aboriginal groups yesterday staged a sit-in
demonstration in front of the Legislative Yuan to protest the
Cabinet-proposed Aboriginal autonomy bill, saying it would “kill” autonomy. “Apparently, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] is
opposed to Aboriginal autonomy and it’s using the so-called ‘autonomy bill’
to kill genuine autonomy,” said Pasang Hsiao (蕭世暉)
of the Association for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’
Policies. “The basic principle of the KMT version of autonomy seems to be:
‘I’d give you autonomy, but you cannot do anything unless I approve it.’” Citing articles from the Cabinet’s version of the
proposed autonomy bill, Hsiao said that all laws and decisions made by the
autonomous government would be invalid if they were not in accordance with
central government laws. “In the proposed bill, it doesn’t take a court decision
to invalidate a decision or laws made by autonomous bodies. Rather,
administrative institutions in the central government could overrule
everything on their own,” Hsiao said. In addition, instead of having each Aboriginal tribe
initiate autonomous regions and determine boundaries, the bill stipulates
that boundaries of autonomous regions are to be decided according to the
administrative boundaries of cities and counties. “This is a complete denial of the democratic process
for Aboriginal tribes,” he said. The group voiced its opposition as the proposed bill
was listed on the agenda of yesterday’s provisional legislative session held
by the outgoing lawmakers of the Seventh Legislature. The Eighth Legislature will take its oath of office on
Feb. 1. Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator-elect Chou Ni-an (周倪安)
also questioned whether the Seventh Legislature could represent the public’s most recent opinions as many of its lawmakers lost
their re-election bids. “Nearly half — 48 out of 113 lawmakers — lost their
re-election bids. This raises questions about their right to call
extraordinary sessions,” Chou said. Omi Wilang, an Atayal and the convener of the Indigenous Peoples’ Action Coalition of Taiwan, agreed, saying: “It’s
ridiculous that, on the last day of their term, KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世),
who lost his re-election bid, and KMT caucus secretary-general Nancy Chao (趙麗雲),
who gave up her bid for re-election, are now calling extraordinary sessions.” Former Council of Indigenous Peoples head Walis Perin called on
Aboriginal voters to call out Aboriginal lawmakers who support the proposed
bill. Shih Cheng-feng
(施正鋒), a professor in the
Department of Indigenous Development and Social Works at National Dong Hwa University, said the authors of the bill are working
to push for autonomy legislation that gives Aboriginals no real control over
their traditional domains. “The Cabinet-proposed autonomy bill gives
Aborigines no control over land and no real power, and it makes a lot of
people wonder why,” Shih said. “But if you look at the various development
projects along Taiwan’s Pacific Coast, you may understand why.” Later yesterday, the Aboriginal rights activists
cheered upon hearing that the provisional session decided to postpone the
review of the bill. Separately yesterday, environmental protection groups
also urged the provisional session not to pass an organic act for the
proposed council of ocean affairs, saying the enactment of such a law would
go against the government’s promise of establishing a marine department. The representatives said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had promised while
campaigning for the presidency in 2008 that a specialized department for
marine affairs would be established. However, the proposed draft acts showed that there
would only be a Coast Guard Administration under the proposed council of
ocean affairs and it would not improve marine protections, the group said,
calling for it to be reviewed in the next session by the newly elected
legislators. “Civic groups have been calling for an ocean act and a
marine department for many years, but the hollow draft act showed how
ignorant the government is,” Wild at Heart Legal Defense Foundation
secretary-general Lynn Lin (林子凌) said at a press
conference as she ripped up a copy of the draft act. The proposed bill, although on the provisional
session’s agenda yesterday, was not reviewed. The Democratic Progressive Party caucus threatened to
ask for an article-by-article vote if the KMT caucus rammed any controversial
bills through, forcing the KMT to back down. Additional reporting by Lee I-chia and Shih Hsiu-chuan *
《Taipei Times》2012/01/21。 |
