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United farmers face
down land seizures
‘IN SOLIDARITY’: A farmer from Hsinchu County
said the government was taking away farmers’ rights as it continues to
expropriate land for development projects
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
Farmers raise their fists and
chant slogans on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei yesterday. The protesters
demanded that laws regulating land expropriation be amended so that politicians
and business interests would not be allowed to take land away from farmers.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
With some laughter, but mostly anger and
other emotions, thousands of farmers from across the country, as well as
academics and farmers’ rights activists, rallied yesterday evening on Taipei’s
Ketagalan Boulevard in pouring rain, to call for an immediate revision to the
Land Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例).
“We the farmers have to stand united to fight against forced land takeovers — I
am in my 80s and I would be willing to defend my land with my life,” Hsieh
Chien-hsiang (謝見祥), a farmer from Jhubei City (竹北), Hsinchu County, said to the
demonstrating crowd last night, which responded with cheers and applause. “The
government is lawless, as the Constitution protects our right to survival, to
property and to work, yet the government is taking all these rights away from us
and we have no other choice but to stay in solidarity!”
He added that while all humans would eventually die, the land would always be
there, “therefore we have to fight to keep the land that has been passed down by
our ancestors.”
Participants in the rally last night included the farming community of Donghai
(東海) in Jhubei, which is one of 12 farming communities either facing forced land
expropriation for various development projects or unequal distribution of water
resources.
Other affected communities include: Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan
Township (竹南); Siangsihliao (相思寮) in Erlin Township (二林) and Sijhou Township
(溪洲), Changhua County; Tianliaoyang (田寮洋) in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei
City; Wurih District (烏日) in Greater Taichung; and Meinong District (美濃) in
Greater Kaohsiung.
Liu Ching-chang (劉慶昌), a farmer from the Erchongpu (二重埔) farming community in
Jhudong Township (竹東), Hsinchu County, said farmers staged a second overnight
rally in front of the Presidential Office because the government had failed to
respond positively to the first one last year despite promises by President Ma
Ying-jeou (馬英九), Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah
(江宜樺).
“They promised that proposals to revise the Land Expropriation Act would be sent
to the Legislative Yuan by May, but it didn’t happen,” Liu said. “Not only that,
the government never stopped or slowed down existing expropriation projects.”
“My friends, it’s raining heavily now, but we will not be discouraged; rather,
we will be even more brave in the pouring rain and if the government does not
amend the law, we will continue with our fight,” he said.
Several academics supporting land expropriation victims spoke at the rally,
while several bands performed in support of the campaign.
Demonstrators stayed overnight and will end the rally with a news conference at
8am today.
At a separate setting yesterday, the premier, in response to the demonstration,
said the government understood the demands of the protesters, promising to
protect the rights of farmers when implementing government policies.
“We will follow the principles we used to handle the Dapu farmland controversy
last year to preserve houses that are legally built and to centralize dispersed
farmland,” he said.
Wu said that the measures employed to handle the Dapu farmland controversy met
the expectations of all concerned and added the government would follow the same
approach when dealing with issues related to land seizures in the future.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
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