Atayal woman revives full facial tattooing tradition

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008, Page 2

Shayun Foudu and her husband show off their facial tattoos in Hualien County yesterday. PHOTO: CNA

A woman from the Atayal tribe in the east has had an elaborate tattoo ingrained on her face, marking the first time an Aboriginal woman in Taiwan has had her face tattooed in nearly a century.

The 33-year-old woman, Shayun Foudu, had the shape of a large "V" tattooed on her face during the weekend at a tourist resort in Taroko National Park in Hualien County.

"Facial tattooing is an old cultural tradition of the Atayal tribe. I feel very proud to have a tattoo on my face," Shayun Foudu told reporters.

Japanese colonial rulers banned the traditional custom 95 years ago, but the government does not outlaw the practice today. The custom of tattooing faces is believed to date back about 1,400 years and was practiced by several of the nation's Aboriginal tribes.

Foudu said that traditionally, Atayal women would have their faces tattooed after their first period. When a young Atayal man was marrying his young bride, the man would also have his face tattooed as a propitious sign of the couple's wish to have a long-lasting marriage, she said.

Foudu, a native of Fuhsing Township (復興), Taoyuan County, said that she and her Atayal husband both have facial tattoos and are proud to "finally have done something" to help preserve an Atayal tradition.

The tattoo artist used modern tattooing techniques to put the pigments on Foudu's face. The process took two hours. In old days, tattooing was done with needles, with ashes applied to the wounds, in a painful process.

Facial tattooing had also been a tradition of other indigenous groups, including the Amis, but Atayal tattoos are especially well-known, partly because it was widely practiced and the tattoos covered practically the entire face.

Specialists say the practice was used for several purposes, including as a way for Atayal ancestors to identify and protect later generations. Tattoos also served as marks of honor for men who were skilled in headhunting, while in women they represented the attainment of skills such as weaving.

The tradition is rapidly disappearing, however, and some Atayals are trying to record the history of face tattooing before the older generation dies.

Foudu said she hopes her and her husband's actions will help society adopt an open mind about facial tattoos.

Oh silence, most despicable silence

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008, Page 8

Soon after Beijing made its successful bid to host the Olympic Games, human rights organizations, academics and some publications intensified their scrutiny of the manner in which the Chinese state apparatus was dealing with dissent, media freedoms and human rights in general.

But while this happened, governments did not follow suit and failed to voice official objections to the fact that Beijing has broken most of its promises.

Just last week, reports that Beijing was requesting that Chinese nationals who obtained tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies submit personal information and a recent photograph -- developments that should have raised eyebrows in world capitals -- passed with little comment.

Under the pretense that the scheme would "eradicate fake tickets [and] control speculative ticket reselling," what Beijing is doing is collecting background data on everybody who will be at the Olympic venue at a time when the world's media will be looking its way. Anyone whom the security apparatus suspects could create "image problems" of the type that were seen at Tiananmen Square in 1989 will be screened out beforehand and be unable to attend the "celebrations."

In a way, this new scheme is just an extension of Beijing's police-state-like preparations for the games, in which foreign "allies" -- which for months have provided it with lists of people and organizations that may cause "trouble" should they participate at the Olympics -- have been complicit.

Perhaps even more troubling is the fact that states -- especially Western democracies that, on paper at least, would be expected to behave more responsibly than China -- seem to find it increasingly difficult to openly talk about human rights abuses, even among themselves.

A prominent example of this is Canada's decision to rewrite the manual on torture it produces for its diplomats after the US and Israel complained that their countries had been listed among the states that employ such practices. Rather than defend the authors of the report or explain his government's position on the matter, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Bernier said the list had "mistakenly" included the two countries and did not represent the official view in Ottawa.

The document -- which was obtained by Amnesty International -- was summarily recast as an embarrassment, at best a mere rag to "stimulate discussion and debate." Its new version, Ottawa promised, will not include Israel and the US. Case closed.

Next thing you know, Beijing, too, will be complaining about its inclusion on the rogues' gallery of torturers or, as Jerusalem and Washington did, it will split hairs and argue that waterboarding and sleep deprivation do not constitute torture.

One by one, in the name of good relations, names will be removed from lists -- those that are made public, at least -- to ensure that no allied government is insulted by the truth.

It is altogether deplorable that in this day and age governments would abandon the human rights discourse -- except for cynical purposes, such as to provide a post facto rationale for the invasion of Iraq, or in the ongoing campaign to isolate Iran.

What this means for all those hapless dissidents or suspects who face torture, unjust imprisonment and other forms of humiliation is that they should no longer place their hopes in governments. Not even the supposedly "good" ones.

South Africa faces energy, climate crisis
　

The environment ministry warns it will no longer tolerate poor environmental standards that have allowed the nation to enjoy the cheapest 'dirty, coal-fired energy' in the world

By Clare Nullis
AP, CAPE TOWN
Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008, Page 9
　

As pressure mounted on South Africa's electricity provider to stop crippling and unpredictable blackouts that cause daily misery, the environment minister said on Friday the era of cheap coal-based energy must end.

Fears for economic growth and investment must be set against the risks to future survival posed by climate change on the continent least equipped to cope, said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, outlining the dilemma faced by many developing countries.

"In Africa, people simply try to survive, but more and more people realize that climate change is an issue of survival," he said.

Peasant farmers are already feeling the squeeze, he said.

The western part of South Africa faces increasing drought and declining crop yields, according to climate projections, while the eastern part risks more torrential rain and flood-related devastation.

South Africa has the cheapest "dirty, coal-fired energy" in the world, at R0.12 (US$0.02) per kilowatt/hour, compared with wind-powered energy at R0.46 and solar energy at R0.57, the minister said. Even in sunny, windy Cape Town, renewable energy is in its infancy.

An experimental wind farm has been set up on the coast and city authorities have tested solar powered traffic lights in a bid to reduce traffic snarls and accidents caused when the lights go off during power outages.

Cape Town has been spared the worst of the daily power cuts gripping many other parts of South Africa. The economic heartland of Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, have been particularly badly hit.

South Africa's Human Rights Commission added its voice on Friday to the mounting protests against Eskom, the electricity provider. It said it would join with the Public Protector -- a consumer ombudsman -- and investigate why Eskom had introduced sweeping power cuts, which have had such a devastating impact on the government's campaign to improve service delivery.

"It has become a serious national embarrassment and could have a major impact on economic growth and job creation," the main trade union movement Cosatu said.

Business Unity South Africa, which represents the corporate world, on Thursday said the power cuts were costing millions and had "no end in sight."

This had eroded local and international confidence in South Africa, the organization said.

It voiced special concern over Eskom's reported warnings that big business projects -- such as proposed mining projects and aluminum smelters, should be put on hold for at least five years.

"The implications of the scenario recommended by Eskom will reduce business confidence; discourage new investment and capital expansion programs negatively affecting growth," said the organization's chief executive, Jerry Vilakazi.

What has most upset South Africans is that the power cuts usually hit without warning. Even though Eskom publishes schedules of planned outages, critics say the company rarely sticks to them.

The Johannesburg newspaper, the Star, had a blackened front page on Friday with a candle in the mast head and a banner headline "Week Joburg Plunged into Dark Ages." It featured tales of electricity woes from across the city, including a story of a man undergoing a complicated operation on his carotid artery when the power failed and a woman held up at gunpoint when her electric gate wouldn't open.

There have been reports that South Africa's already rampant crime -- has surged in the past week as criminals take advantage of the blackouts.

Hardest hit are small businesses -- such as hairdressing salons which have sent clients to sit in the sun to let their hairstyles dry; pet shop owners whose exotic fish have died; meat and dairy stores which have had to dump their produce.

Radio talk shows have been buzzing with irate callers for weeks, and traffic snarls around Johannesburg, already bad, have become unbearable.

Eskom says the outages are not its fault, attributing it to a lack of government foresight and planning years ago.

The company is building new coal-fired power stations -- which should be ready by 2013 -- and bring obsolete ones back into service. It is also constructing a second nuclear powered station near Cape Town.

But van Schalkwyk warned the power company that the government would no longer turn a blind eye to poor environmental standards.

"They must not expect the same leniency with regard to environmental standards that applied in the past," he said.

"We cannot continue to simply rely on fossil fuels for energy generation," he said.