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In essence,
the indigenous policy of the current government is assimilation: by means of
welfare colonialism, its policy goal is to turn them into “the human beings.” Although
multiculturalism is enshrined in the Constitutional Amendment, the mainstream
society tends to consider Indigenous Peoples objects for cultural
consumption, and thus scorns their efforts at rights protection as futile. Even if the Indigenous Fundamental Law (2005)
stipulated that those law infringing indigenous rights ought to be revised or
abolished and that relevant laws are passed within three years, nothing has
come into existence. Worst of
all, the government has attempted to sabotage the Fundamental Law in the daft Indigenous
Autonomy Bill. Here are our
charges: 1.
Rights to self-determination: (1) Under the daft Indigenous Autonomy Bill, the
indigenous governments are nothing but empty shells, devoid of any powers or
land. (2) After the Typhoon Morakot floods, tribal peoples face forced eviction away
from their homes. (3) Five indigenous towns are
incorporated into the newly constituted metropolitans, and lost their rights
to elect their own administrative heads. 2.
Rights to property: (1) Traditional territories of
the Indigenous Peoples are indiscriminately designated as the Public Reserved
Lands. (2) Indigenous Peoples lost
control of utilizing national resources on their lands. (3) The governments at all
levels exploit indigenous lands without due consultations or permissions. 3.
Rights to culture: (1) While indigenous languages
are becoming extinct, the government has neither made all efforts at
revitalization nor development. (2) The Ministry of Education
and the Council of Indigenous Peoples are passing the buck to each other on
the lack of indigenous education demanded in the Indigenous Education Law. (3) The government has failed
to pay due attention to indigenous higher education. 4.
Rights to economy: (1) As tribal economy in
persistent crisis, the Indigenous Peoples have no choice but to squat in
urban areas. (2) The average income of the
Indigenous Peoples is much lower than the national average while that of the
unemployment rate is much higher than the latter. (3) The affirmative action
clause in the Indigenous Rights to Work has been largely neglected. 5.
Social Rights: (1) Taking an Oriental
perspective, the non-indigenous society tends to deem that the Indigenous
Peoples are only fit for such activities singing and dancing or military
service. (2) As government pork barrels
are linked to patronage, the Indigenous Peoples have no free will during
elections. 6.
Rights to identity: (1) Indigenous Peoples are
arbitrarily separated into Hills and Plains ones. (2) The government has deprived
the Plains Indigenes their indigenous status, and thus perpetuated their
traditional acrimony with those status ones. * Testified
at the Joint Review Meeting for the ROC’s Initial Report under the ICCPR and
the ICESCR. Taipei, Howard Civil
Service House, 2013/2/25. ** Professor, Department
of Indigenous Development and Social Welfare, Former dean, College of
Indigenous Studies, National Dong Hwa University;
Inaugurating president, Taiwan Indigenous Studies Association. |
