The Tao people take precautions to protect their homeland, never daring to be careless (3/8)
Special report / Chen Pin-chun, Ho Yi-chun
Editors / Chen Wei-wei, Hung Yu-tseng
When the reporting team visited Orchid Island in late January this year (2014) and asked the islanders whether they knew about the "Orchid Island Specific Zone Plan" and how much they understood it, many chairpersons of community development associations and residents said they had taken part in a public forum held in the Dongqing tribe in November 2013. At that forum, they first heard of the "Orchid Island Specific Zone Plan" from members of the Dongqing No. 7 Land Self-Rescue Association, and up to the time the reporting team interviewed them, they had still received no further information.
The Tao people dare not be careless; guarding their homeland is a duty they cannot lay down. "The Taitung County Government previously drafted the plan, and it was all there in black and white. If it was to be abandoned, an explanatory meeting should still be held to explain." Regarding the Taitung County Government's failure to come forward and clearly explain the follow-up progress of the Orchid Island Specific Zone Plan, Chang Hai-yu, spokesperson for the Dongqing No. 7 Land Self-Rescue Association (hereafter the "Dongqing Self-Rescue Association"), feels uneasy. He said the association is currently devoting its efforts to understanding the plan as a form of "prevention," hoping to preserve the land and human rights that belong to the Tao people.
2013Year12Month9Day, the Control Yuan in the "Dongqing No. 7 Land" correction document mentioned that in accordance with"Taitung County National Indigenous Reserved Land Land Use Rights Consent Letter Issuance Review Guidelines", only those who obtain land leases and related rights are qualified to use Taitung County indigenous reserved land. The Taitung County Government responded that whenever local areas have land use needs but no legal basis, they cite Article 10 of the "Principles for the Free Provision of National Public Property for Use" to provide short-term use for urgent business of government agencies.
However, when such citation of legal basis is pulled into the "Dongqing No. 7 Land" case, the Control Yuan believed that the Taitung County Government interpreted "Dongqing No. 7 Land," which should belong to indigenous reserved land, as "national land," and without the consent of the tribe and the land review committee, arbitrarily allocated it free of charge for use by private operators; therefore, the Control Yuan determined that the Taitung County Government had administrative negligence.
Time returns to 2013Year7Month1Day, when the draft "Orchid Island Specific Zone Plan" was announced, one week before the Taitung County Government revoked the consent letter changing Dongqing No. 7 Land into "temporary land for a concrete batching plant," in order to solve the legal basis problem of "local land use needs," the Taitung County Government also announced on this day the revised content of the "Taitung County National Indigenous Reserved Land Land Use Rights Consent Letter Issuance Review Guidelines," in which Point 2 added: "Government agencies may apply for issuance of a land use rights consent letter for national indigenous reserved land other than that in the preceding paragraph when public facilities are urgently needed, or for temporary facilities required for construction." Members of the Dongqing Self-Rescue Association believed that this amendment was equivalent to unlocking the Taitung County Government's inability to obtain indigenous reserved land, and that in the future, when the Taitung County Government issues land use rights consent letters for indigenous reserved land to construction operators, there would be a legal basis.
After nearly two months of precautions by the Tao people, the Taitung County Government took only a few days to unlock legal use. Once this precedent was set, the Tao people found it not only hard to accept, but even harder to maintain trust in the Taitung County Government.
Taitung County Councilor Syamen Madeneng said that any planning on indigenous reserved land must obtain local consent; planning before consent is obtained is deception, and he said bluntly: "Under conditions where we are not respected, we oppose first." Former Orchid Island Township Mayor Chou Kuei-kuang also believed that even though there is currently no sign that the "Orchid Island Specific Zone Plan" is entering Orchid Island, because the Tao people have been deceived in the past, the idea of taking precautions first is very correct: "Orchid Islanders are now defending more rigorously, but besides defending, they also need to be able to strike back."
Taitung County Councilor Syamen Madeneng said that any planning on indigenous reserved land must obtain local consent; planning before consent is obtained is deception, and he said bluntly: "Under conditions where we are not respected, we oppose first." Former Orchid Island Township Mayor Chou Kuei-kuang also believed that even though there is currently no sign that the "Orchid Island Specific Zone Plan" is entering Orchid Island, because the Tao people have been deceived in the past, the idea of taking precautions first is very correct: "Orchid Islanders are now defending more rigorously, but besides defending, they also need to be able to strike back."
In the evening, 3 children play by the sea, shouting again and again: Evil spirit of nuclear waste, get out of Orchid Island. Photo / Ho Yi-chun
(To be continued)
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Special report series
〈When Orchid Island Meets the Specific Zone Plan: Shown the Door or Arms Wide Open?〉Special report series (1/8)
Hidden worries of the Specific Zone Plan: Factories and hotels may be built on Orchid Island (2/8)
Guarding the homeland without daring to be careless: The Tao people take precautions (3/8)
Silent and invisible: Where has the "Orchid Island Specific Zone Plan" got to? (4/8)
Defining land ownership: Two diverging paths, traditional and official (5/8)
Carried in on the waves: The historical imprint of the Island of People (6/8)
The first condition for Orchid Island's development: Building a communication mechanism (7/8)
Discussing future development: Orchid Island's tourism question and answer (8/8)
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