7 minute read
Crying in the Land
By Omi Wilang
“Soil and ground, we call it land. But what exactly is in the name of land?” In a highly competitive and profit-oriented era, land has become an important tool for the business development. The Han Chinese people believe: “No land, no fortune. On land, one builds his fortune!” Under this mindset, Han people has been good in land management.
But what does land mean to the indigenous people of Taiwan? The Apache believe: “Man is but part of the ecosystem centred by land.” The indigenous tribes in Australia look at the land as an intimate member of the family like brothers or sisters.
As to Tao people, one of the indigenous tribes of Taiwan, they pray and pay tributes to the trees before cutting them down to make boats with lumbers. "Natural forests are our close relatives," asserted Pusin Tali , Dean of Yu-shan Theological College and Seminary, in his book “The Existential Theology of the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan.”
Indigenous peoples worldwide see land as the origin of “life”, because a great majority of them make their living on land. Furthermore, land gives the meaning of life to indigenous peoples. Land is indeed the source of the tribal culture formed by history, folktale, religion, and liturgies that constitute their ethnic identity. The relationship between people and their land is so intimate; it’s just like water to the fish and the soil to the vegetations.
In recent years, we have seen the land of Taiwan being exploited extensively by interest groups with approvals from the government administrations. From the high mountains to the coastal areas, no matter where the land is located at hilly sites, sprinkle-lake areas or open country, the interest groups could always package the land in the name of economical development to advance their own profits. The government and interest groups ignored the outcries of the soil. They barely care about the natural and necessary conditions to nurture and restore the soil.
Let’s talk about the true story of "The strugglings against ACC(Asia Cement Corporation)" as a vivid example. Right before 1969, on the land of the Indigenous Taiwanese, the government made a censorship which would facilitate people to register the ownership of the land. The law requires the land solely for agricultural use at the time. Indigenous people could claim their land ownership when they have cultivated the land for 10 years. Therefore, before the ownership is available for ten years of working, the indigenous Taiwanese only has the right to cultivate the land. In 1973, the ACC arrived and made application to the Township Office of Shoulin Village in
Tao people (Yami), Taiwan 1897 (No.7187). Image by 鳥居龍蔵（1870-1953）.
Hualien District in order to lease the reserved land for the indigenous in Shoulin and Fushi village.
In Fushi village, there were several tribes, namely, Huhus, Skadang, Lowcing, Ayu, Kulu etc. They lived together as a community. And the site of mining of ACC fell in the area of tribe of Ayu. At that time, the nice and simple-minded people of the Taroko tribe knew very little about the edicts prescribed by the Han people. And Township Office of Shoulin Village helped ACC persuade people to accept the deal by telling them that they would receive sizable stipends from ACC as a compensation for the land leasing. And once the lease expires, the land would be returned to tribal people. Facing the generous offering, the Taroko people laid their trust on the government and agreed to accept the offer suggested by the Township Office.
It was absolutely incredible the Township officials would dare make forgery paper in the name of land owners as “Statement of Discarding the Right of Land Use " and related documents. More than 100 land users’ statement were forged in the same day coincidentally that involving 270 pieces of land in total. To no one’s knowledge, someone made the applications to renounce the users’ right for them at the land office for the indigenous people. The right of land users was therefore foreered betrayed by such cheating acts.
Whenever the indigenous people raised their petitions to reclaim their users’ right, the government officials were always sided with ACC, by claiming that:“ACC has legally obtained its mining right. In addition, since ACC is the largest cement company in the country, it would adversely affect the cement industry of
President Tsai apologises to the indigenous peoples on behalf of the government. (2016/08/01). Image by 總統府.
Taiwan if their mining right is banned."
Helplessly, the tribal people were not able to fight against this injustice effectively. The problem was carried on until 1995, when Mrs. Chung-Chau Tein, a Taiwanese woman who married in Japan, returned to her hometown, Shoulin Village, with her Japanese husband. This is also the critical time when “ACC was holding negotiation for a renewal of lease extension.” The inside story of this land exploitation finally broke out.
In the 22 years period, the Township Office of Shoulin Village has secretly “changed the users’ right” of those lands, located at the mining site of ACC in the reserved area of tribal people, by administrational tricks. When the tribal people tried again to reclaim their right of land use by legal proceedings, they were told the case had exceeded the period of the Statue of Limitation since it was 22 years old. To fight for the unjust treatment, Mrs. Tein organized a Self-Help Association Against the ACC by the name of "Return Our Land!”
Ms. Tein devoted all the time and resources of her later life to engage in the social movement of defending the right of the tribal people against the unjust treatment of ACC. Certainly, the local tribal people and related NGO had been working really hard in the struggle against ACC for more than 30 years.
Even though Taroko Self-Help Association, working hard with NGOs from across the country in order to make their voices heard, is determined to make the petitions to the government by holding protests, press
A traditional house of the Puyuma People in Taitung, Taiwan. Image by Benson KC Fang.
conferences, seminars, and public hearings and etc., the Magistrate of Hualien County kept avoiding to respond directly to this issue by taking political advantages amid legal tactics and administrative expediency. Only recently, a turning point was emerged in an amendment draft bill of “Mining Act” submitted by the Executive Yuan on December 5, 2017 under the instruction of Premier Lai Ching-te. Once the amendment of Mining Act is enacted in the future, ACC will be required to re-submit the EIA(Environmental Impact Assessment) for her 66 mine sites.
In a press conference, the Executive Yuan outlined 6 key points of this Mining Act amendments. The fourth point is to add time limit on extension of existing mining sites in order to safeguard the rights and benefits of indigenous peoples. The future extension of mining sites have to be in line with article 21st of "The Indigenous Peoples Basic law", meet the requirement of “all extensions must consult with the indigenous people for their permission and willingness of participation, and has to allow tribal peoples to share a reasonable amount of profits in using their land. After 44 years-long of strugglings, the Taroko people strongly believe the Rutux, their God, is the reigning creator of all beings. He enabled the Taroko people live in harmony with the Nature according to the law of Gaya. However, the greediness of interest groups and the collusion of the government has spoiled the beautiful forest in the mountain of tribal Ayu and the vicinity area.
The excessively exploitative scenes of the site makes the Taroko feel their faith and teachings of Gaya system is severely breached. As it’s impossible to recover the land to its original state, it makes the Tatoko people feel they were renounced and cursed by the Rutux. It’s evident in the past 44 years, the groaning of the land of tribe Ayu and the struggles of the Taroko people have accumulated a great outcry and accusation.
In less than a week, more than 200,000 people nationwide signed up the petition against ACC from extending its inappropriate mining development early in June last year. The feeble weeping of the land of Ayu had inspired waves of uproars, sending a gigantic message of the people’s determination to fight against the unduly exploitation of the land.
This story by Omi Wilang, Programme Secretary for Indigenous Ministries (Society) is taken from “Taiwan Indigenous Mission Stories”, a project made possible by CWM’s Hearing God’s Cry Programme.
