President Tsai Ing-wen issued the apology on August 1st, marking the day that the derogatory term “mountain people” was abolished in favor of the term “aborigines” or “indigenous people” in 1994.
Wearing a suit decorated with indigenous motifs, Tsai welcomed representatives of Taiwan’s 16 officially recognized indigenous tribes in person at the entrance of the Presidential Office on Monday morning. The 16 tribes are the Amis, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Tsou, Rukai, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Tao, Thao, Kavalan, Truku, Sakizaya, Sediq, Hla’alua, and Kanakanavu. There are other groups also campaigning for official recognition.
Tsai said that Taiwan’s indigenous people are early inhabitants with their own languages, cultures, customs and places to live. However, she said they have been exploited, displaced, marginalized and deprived of their rights by later settlers, including their right to autonomy and self-determination.
Tsai also said that every government that has controlled Taiwan in the past has trampled aboriginal rights and that history has been written from the perspective of the dominant Han Chinese ethnic group. Tsai cited examples of previous governments’ half-hearted interest in the preservation of aboriginal culture, and the dumping of nuclear waste on Lanyu, an offshore island home to the Tao tribe, as examples of past wrongs. Tsai also promised to create and head a committee dedicated to securing transitional justice for indigenous peoples.
Social and cultural critic Chen Fang-ming called Tsais apology a historic moment. Chen said it was not easy to do so and that the president’s efforts to seek reconciliation with indigenous peoples should go down as her legacy.
But while the apology was generally well received, some said more concrete action is needed and that the government should address the issue of “sovereignty.” Hundreds of aboriginal activists staged a protest in front of the presidential office over the weekend. They accused the president of “playing fake” by preparing what they called “a high-profile apology ceremony.” One said there is no justice without truth.