Siraya update

[Rolland Nadjiwon]

Wishing you the best of luck...as a Potowatomi, I know what it is like 
to be 'lumped' into the name 'Indians' and made bureaucratically 
invisible while we still exist as Potowatomi.

-------
wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon



Chun Jimmy Huang wrote:
> Friends and colleague on ILAT,
>
> I don't know if this is related to the petition and the scheduled 
> street demonstration on May 2nd, but it may be, because all street 
> demonstration in Taiwan needs to be registered first.
>
> So as I mentioned in the petition 
> (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Siraya-reclamation), Siraya is but 
> one of the 11 indigenous peoples in Taiwan that have not been 
> officially recognized by the central government (under KMT, or the 
> Chinese Nationalist Party). But the fact is that the local government 
> of Tainan County, which is the Siraya homeland, under the localist 
> Democratic Progressive Party, has since earlier this year invited 
> Siraya individuals to register as "aborigine."
>
> Unfortunately, just yesterday (April 21st) the Center of Indigenous 
> Affairs sent an order to Tainan County government saying that it is 
> illegal to register Siraya. Besides, the central government ordered to 
> delete the "other" category on identity registration (the dominant Han 
> people are default and needs no category; the 14 officially recognized 
> peoples each has an ethnic category; the 11 unrecognized peoples WERE 
> all lumped into "other"). So now even in their/our homeland the Siraya 
> people have become illegal and non-existent.
>
> Still, the petition continues and the demonstration will take place as 
> planned.
>
>
> Chun (Jimmy) Huang
> PhD candidate,
> Linguistics, University of Florida
> Linguistic consultant,
> Tainan Pingpu Siraya Culture Association
>