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Policy for Indigenous Peoples in Transition 109
that spirit does not seem to be fully understood by the
Kuomintang that is Taiwan’s governing party now.
No policy has been laid down to follow his principle to
the letter to help the indigenous peoples in Taiwan.
There was no mention of the rights of indigenous peoples
in the Constitution before 1990. The Kuomintang
government policy for Shan Bao or Mountaineer Compatriots
was enforced by executive orders for the most
part of the previous four decades and a half. The indigenous
peoples complained that there were no special
laws to safeguard their basic rights.
Though Taiwan has been democratized and modernized,
the life of indigenous peoples is characterized
by “absolute progress and comparative regression.”
There has been progress in their cultural level as well as
social and economic status year after year but they are
lagging far behind their Han Chinese compatriots. For
example, the average income of Taiwan’s indigenous
peoples is only a third of what the Han Chinese majority
earn. Their unemployment rate is almost three times
as high as that of Han Chinese. Only nine percent of the
indigenous peoples are college graduates, against 22
percent of the Han Chinese. Only 17 indigenous people
hold Ph. D. degrees. Accidents and disasters occur frequently
in the mountain area, where medical assistance
is hard to come by. Their life expectancy is ten years
less than that of the Han Chinese. All this hampers the
proper economic and social development of indigenous
peoples.
Taiwan’s Shan Bao Policy from 1950 to 1990 emphasized
“assimilation” or “melting” in addition to
“modernization.” The government wanted Mountaineer
Compatriots to make “synchronized and parallel progress”
with the Han Chinese. The result is a marked
assimilation of indigenous peoples in Han Chinese society.
In education, on the other hand, Han Chinese
chauvinism precluded the teaching of the history of
indigenous peoples, their cultures and their languages.
Indigenous peoples were made to learn little of their
history and culture. Many of them can hardly speak
their mother tongues well. There never were plans to
revise school textbooks to give indigenous children a
better understanding of themselves.
Political reform began in Taiwan in the mid-1980s.
Martial law was lifted. So was the ban on new political
parties. The press was made free. It was time for indigenous
peoples to campaign for their basic rights.
The Association for the Promotion of the Rights of
the Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan (APRIPT) was set up
in December 1984. The APRIPT tackled such issues as
indigenous child prostitution, indigenous labor controversy,
the nuclear waste on Orchid Island, indigenous
land rights, and demolition of the bronze statue of Wu
Feng. (A Han Chinese myth made Wu Feng, an interpreter,
promise his life in exchange for an end by indigenous
tribesmen of their head-hunting custom.) Indigenous
lawmakers spoke up for the rights of their
peoples. These were memorable accomplishments of
the APRIPT. The indigenous rights movement compelled
the Kuomintang and its government to act positively
and proactively on the policy for indigenous
peoples. As a matter of fact, the administration was
forced to respond to the demands of indigenous peoples
for reform. As a whole, however, the policy was conservative
and passive.
III. Policy for Indigenous Peoples in the 90s
Taiwan lifted its long state of emergency in 1991
by ending the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression
of Communist Rebellion, which was proclaimed
by President Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing in
1948. The end of the state of emergency, on the other
hand, contributed materially to the consolidation of
democracy in Taiwan. The Constitution of 1947 was
amended in 1992 to explicitly specify that the status
and political participation of the “Shan Bao in the free
region” shall be protected. The government has to assist
in and facilitate the promotion of their education, cultures,
social benefits and economic welfare. Another
constitutional amendment in 1994 further confirms
their multiple cultures, which must be taught in school
along with their Austronesian languages. The amend-