Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Morakot survivors protest against government's policies

Taiwan News

The Indigenous Peoples Action Coalition of Taiwan (IPACT) held a rally last night on the Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office to pray for the souls of the dead a year after Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan, took some 700 Taiwanese lives and left thousands homeless.

President Ma Ying-jeou has come under heavy fire for his government's slow response after the monster typhoon slammed into Taiwan Aug. 7-9 last year, and triggered massive floodwaters and landslides that buried native peoples alive and isolated their villages in the south.

Pingpu activist calls for new, separate ministry

Taipei Times

Impatient with the Council of Indigenous Peoples’ (CIP) response to Pingpu Aborigines’ demand for recognition, activist Lin Sheng-yi (林勝義), a Pingpu from the Ketagalan tribe, yesterday urged the government to create a separate ministry to handle Pingpu affairs.

“I don’t know why is it so hard for the CIP to officially recognize the Pingpu as Aborigines,” Lin told a news conference in Taipei. “The Pingpu have been considered indigenous peoples by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues since 1994 and we’ve always been active in Aboriginal movements — why is it so hard to recognize us as Aborigines?”

Ma plays the same old tune again

Taipei Times Editorial

With great fanfare, the Presidential Office trumpeted the news on Thursday that Taiwan and Singapore would explore the possibility of signing a trade pact before the end of the year. Such a deal could pave the way for closer economic ties with ASEAN, India and Japan, the Presidential Office said, while the government was also looking at Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand as potential targets for trade pact negotiations.

Haven’t we heard this all before?

Morakot victims stage overnight rally

Taipei Times

Hundreds of victims of Typhoon Morakot from Aboriginal regions in the south yesterday began an overnight sit-in rally in front of the Presidential Office to protest the government’s post-disaster reconstruction policies a year after the storm devastated their homes.

“We want to have a say in the reconstruction!” and “No to disunion,” the demonstrators shouted as they marched from Liberty Square to Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.

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