A number of indigenous groups protested in front of the Judicial Yuan in Taipei on Friday. They were calling for a constitutional interpretation in a case involving an indigenous hunter.
At the heart of the case is a Bunun Tribe hunter named Tama Talum. He was apprehended by the police back in 2013 after he went hunting to provide food for his mother who was in her 90s. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for poaching and illegal possession of a gun. That sparked an outcry in the indigenous community, which does have legal protection for certain types of ceremonial hunts.
Late last year the prosecutor-general filed an extraordinary appeal, suspending the sentence until the Supreme Court rules on the case.
On Friday, indigenous groups filed a request for a constitutional interpretation. They say that the laws protecting indigenous hunters’ rights should not come secondary to wildlife conservation laws. They say that laws requiring hunters to apply 20 days in advance, and seek approval for hunts, don’t take cultural differences into consideration.
An associate professor with National Chengchi University’s Department of Ethnology, Kuan Da-wei, explains.
“The root cause of our dilemma is the cultural biases of our nation’s laws. What are cultural biases? It’s using your own cultural ideas to interpret the cultures of others, resulting in misunderstandings and preconceived notions," said Kuan.
An official with the Judicial Yuan, Lin Chi-hui, received the petition on Friday. He said that the high court judges will follow the law in reviewing the case. But he also said that since the judges were following legal procedures, it might be a problem with the legislation rather than with the court. He urged civic groups to lobby for amendments to the law.