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Aborigines plan to hold symbolic
‘headhunt’ of ROC
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
Members of the Indigenous Peoples
Action Coalition of Taiwan say that representatives from all Aboriginal
communities, whose land rights are being encroached upon, will gather at Central
Arts Park in Taipei City on Sunday to perform a **mgaya** ceremony — the Atayal
word for “headhunting”— against the Republic of China government.
Photo: CNA
Aboriginal rights advocates yesterday
announced a symbolic mgaya — the Atayal word for a “headhunt”— against the
Republic of China (ROC) government on Sunday, the eve of the ROC’s centennial
celebrations.
After performing a traditional song and dance, Sediq National Assembly spokesman
Watan Diro, in a traditional Sediq outfit, took out a knife and cut in half a
sign with the number “100” and the phrase “A Spectacular Century; Republic of
China” — which is the official slogan for the ROC’s centennial celebrations.
It was a gesture of discontent toward the ROC government, Wantan said, as the
ROC government, like the Japanese colonial government that preceded it, is a
repressive foreign regime to Taiwan’s Aborigines who have been living on the
island for thousands of years.
“We, Taiwan’s Aboriginal peoples, refuse to join the celebrations for the
illegitimate ROC regime’s 100th anniversary,” said Indigenous Peoples’ Action
Coalition Taiwan secretary-general Omi Wilang, an Atayal Aboriginal. “We have
nothing to celebrate, as the Aborigines have only suffered under the ROC
government.”
For instance, Omi said, the ROC government has always — and still tries to —
store nuclear waste in traditional Aboriginal domains; a nuclear waste dump is
operating on Orchid Island (蘭嶼), where more than 90 percent of the residents are
Aboriginal Tao, and a new nuclear waste storage facility is planned for
construction in Daren Township (達仁), Taitung County, a traditional domain of the
Paiwan.
Echoing Omi, Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ Policies Association president Oto
Micyang, an Amis Aborigine, said land disputes between the central government
and Aborigines that have recently surfaced are also evidence of injustices the
ROC has forced upon the Aborigines.
“The Japanese took our lands by force and at the end of World War II, many
tribal elders were expecting to finally get their lands back,” Oto said.
“Instead of returning the lands to Aborigines, the ROC government simply took
over the land for itself.”
“I don’t know how we should join the ROC celebrations and how we can teach our
children to respect the ROC,” said Daya Dakasi (官大偉), an assistant professor at
National Chengchi University’s Department of Ethnology, an Atayal. “The ROC has
taken natural resources that belong to Aborigines, occupies our lands and
collaborates with capitalists and big corporations to plan large-scale
development projects without consulting our peoples.”
Daya added that despite the Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民族基本法), which grants
Aborigines autonomy, land, culture and natural resource rights, “the ROC
government has failed to pass relevant laws and the promises to protect our
rights are still unfulfilled.”
Representatives from all Aboriginal communities will gather at the Central Arts
Park in Taipei City at 4pm on Sunday to perform the mgaya ceremony, which will
be followed by music and cultural performances that begin at 6pm.
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