please support Siraya reclamation

[Chun Jimmy Huang]

Mr. Nadjiwon,

Yes I have learnt about your history and its similarity to ours.
I am a Siraya native and the blog is also designed by Siraya 
natives. We have temporary problem with English right now because 
Chinese has become our first language (not unlike English taking 
over yours). Our web team doesn't feel as comfortable with English 
as I do...and I am not so good at web design...

I apologize for not being able to gain your full trust for 
linguistic reasons. I would understand if you decide not to sign 
it.

sincerely,

Jimmy



On Wed Mar 25 14:52:05 EDT 2009, Rolland Nadjiwon 
<mikinakn at SHAW.CA> wrote:

> My sincere apologies but I do need to know/read what I am 
> signing. As you might recall from history, our people(Native 
> Americans) trusted Columbus et al and have paid severely for that 
> unconditional trust for the last 517 years. I will certainly join 
> my signature to the post should you post the petition in English. 
> I can have empathy for what these people are doing and what they 
> are experiencing through our own history.
> 
> -------
> wahjeh
> rolland nadjiwon
> 
> 
> 
> Chun Jimmy Huang wrote:
>> Tabe, friends and colleagues from ILAT,
>> 
>> Siraya is one of the indigenous peoples (Austronesian) in Taiwan 
>> that have not yet been recognized by Taiwan's government. The 
>> Siraya language was last spoken a century ago, and hence it is 
>> labeled as "extinct" by the mainstream society and academia. The 
>> relation between such labeling and the denial of our identity is 
>> hence obvious.
>> 
>> However, the fact is that the Siraya people are still living 
>> strong. And we have been working on revitalizing our sleeping 
>> mother tongue and native culture since 1997.
>> 
>> On May 2nd, 2009, the Siraya Culture Association and friends are 
>> going on the street to demand the government recognize the 
>> "indigenous" status of Siraya and also other Taiwanese low-land 
>> indigenous peoples. Such political recognition is of great 
>> significance to our language revitalization effort, for it 
>> concerns availability of funding and resources. Also, to our 
>> people, it will mean that we are no longer mistaken as "extinct."
>> 
>> The Siraya Culture Association has made an online petition form. 
>> I would much appreciate if you can sign it and show your support.
>> 
>> Unfortunately our computer technician has trouble creating an 
>> English interface and hyperlinks now. So I just translated the 
>> statement and the explanation of the signing process from the 
>> original Chinese text to English.
>> 
>> Basically, you can:
>> go to this website first
>> http://campaign.tw-npo.org/campaign/sign.php?id=2009031902170000
>> 
>> Scroll down and read the English statement.
>> 
>> Then, go to the bottom of the page and click on the link to the 
>> right (or open it on a new tag/page) that has 6 Chinese 
>> characters. That's for individual signing. Then, from top to 
>> bottom you will see several grids.
>> 
>> (1) Name. Please sign your name here in your native language.
>> (2) English name. If your native name is in English, ignore this 
>> grid. You do need to sign (1) to be accepted by the system, 
>> though.
>> (3) Affiliation
>> (4) Ignore this... it's geographical locations in Taiwan.
>> (5) Email
>> (6) cell phone number
>> (7) (other) phone number
>> 
>> Except for (1), everything else is optional.
>> 
>> (8) And then, if possible, please leave some message in the big 
>> box. Any word from you would mean a lot to us.
>> (9) Verify by entering the number in the last grid. Then click 
>> on the button below it and you are done.
>> 
>> Madak ki alilid (thank you very much!)
>> 
>> 
>> Chun Jimmy Huang
>> PhD candidate,
>> Linguistics, University of Florida
>> Linguistic consultant,
>> Tainan Ping-pu Siraya Culture Association
>> 
> 



Chun (Jimmy) Huang
PhD candidate,
Linguistics, University of Florida
Linguistic consultant,
Tainan Ping-pu Siraya Culture Association