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Indigenous Rights in Taiwan and the Smangus Case

Smangus Beech Tree Incident


The Smangus Beech Tree Incident shines a spotlight on the status of indigenous rights in Taiwan. The case can be understood as a conflict between the traditional laws and customs of a minority group and the laws of the nation. The Smangus Beech Tree Incident and subsequent legal case relates to a conflict over the wood from a wind fallen beech tree. The legal case is ongoing and it highlights the struggle of indigenous peoples in Taiwan to gain rights to land and resources.

Indigenous rights movement


Taiwan's indigenous rights movement began in the early 1980s. The end of martial law era in 1987 created more political space and indigenous peoples' rights began to be recognised by the government. In the 1990s Taiwan's indigenous peoples were officially recognised in the constitution. The 1993 amendments replaced the word shanbao (mountain compatriots) with yuanzhumin (indigenous people). The 1997 amendments changed this again to yuanzhuminzu (indigenous peoples) emphasising collective rights. In 1996 the Council of Indigenous Peoples was established under the Executive Yuan. The 2001 Indigenous Peoples Status Act allowed people to officially reclaim their indigenous identity where it had been lost through marriage or adoption. It also allowed them to use romanised versions of their names in their own language rather than Chinese names. In 2005 Taiwan Indigenous Television was established providing a new voice for indigenous peoples and a means to promote their languages and cultures. Taiwan's indigenous peoples were previously classified as nine tribes based on the work of Japanese anthropologists in the early twentieth century. It was an external imposition and previous self-identification was based at the village level. Tribe is in fact a misnomer as they are actually ethno-linguistic groups who do not necessarily have tribal social organisation. The aboriginal identities that came to exist were a result of the anthropological research that classified them. The nine tribes model has been abandoned since 2000 and there are now fourteen officially recognised groups. Indigenous peoples are no longer forced to accept the labels imposed on them by outsiders. Instead they are increasingly able to self-identify.

Smangus community
Smangus is an Atayal community of about 150 people located at an altitude of 1,500 metres in Jianshi District, Hsinchu County. It was once known as the black village (heise buluo), referring to the fact it had no electricity until 1979. It takes three to four hours to drive there along narrow mountain roads. There was no road to the village until 1995. The roads are especially susceptible to landslides after typhoons or heavy rains and this adds to the sense of remoteness. The village is neat and well kept. Most of the houses are built from wood rather than the concrete and bricks that are common almost everywhere else in Taiwan. The village has a Presbyterian Church and a branch of the Xinguang Primary School.

Indigenous Peoples Basic Law


In January 2005 the Legislative Yuan passed the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law (IPBL). The IPBL represents an important landmark in the development of indigenous rights in Taiwan and provides a framework for those rights under national law. The IPBL aims to uphold the rights to similar standards as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. IPBL is broad ranging covering areas including education, language, welfare, housing and employment. There are several articles of the IPBL specifically related to the right to lands and resources and indigenous autonomy. Article 19 says indigenous peoples may undertake non-profit activities such as hunting and collecting plants in accordance with their traditional culture and for their own consumption. Article 20 recognizes indigenous peoples right to lands and natural resources.

Ecotourism
Soon after the road was completed in 1995 tourists began visiting the area. Visitors were attracted to the village to experience the pristine environment and to hike to a nearby grove of ancient cypress trees. The people of Smangus have developed their village in a unique way seeking to minimise some of the negative side effects that often come with economic development. The village is organised on a communal basis. All members who participate receive a standard monthly wage. This seeks to reduce competition between members of the community and ensure that the economic benefits of tourism are equally distributed.

Timeline of events
31 August/1 September 2005: Typhoon Talim hits Taiwan. Beech tree falls across road to Smangus. 2 September 2005: People of Smangus repair road and move fallen beech tree to roadside. October 2005: Forestry Bureau removes the main trunk of the tree. Smangus holds a meeting and asks three men to take the remains of the tree for use in the village. The three men were caught and charged with theft of forestry products. August 2006: Summary court hearing Defendants refused offer of guilty plea and $10,000 fine. April 2007: Hsinchu District Court Defendants found guilty. 6 months of imprisonment suspended for two years and fine of $160,000. 7 May 2007 Smangus held the ceremony of Psurux Btunux (set up a stone marker to make covenant) to declare the autonomy of the traditional territory. 30 May 2007 Protest at Forestry Bureau in Taipei. Dialogue with Forestry Bureau failed to achieve any outcome. Sep 2007 High Court appeal fine and sentences were reduced to NT$59,000 and three months respectively. The case is still awaiting the final appeal hearing in the High Court.

While the passing of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law is an attempt by government to recognise the rights of Taiwan's indigenous peoples, the ideals of the Basic Law have not been fully realised in practice. There remains a gulf between the standards of the law, the expectations of indigenous peoples and the actions of government authorities.

Forestry Act
The three men from Smangus were charged under Article 52 of the Forestry Act which sets out the penalties for theft of forestry products. However, Article 15 of the Act states that indigenous peoples may collect forest products for their own traditional needs and customs. During the court hearings there was difficulty proving the traditional territory of Smangus in a way that was satisfactory to the court. Article 15: In forests located in the traditional territory of indigenous peoples, indigenous people may take forest products for their own living needs and customs. The harvesting area, variety, time, paid/unpaid, and other rules should be decided by the central government agency along with the central government of the aboriginal people. Article 52: The penalty for burglary of primary forest products or forest by-products shall be at least six months but no more than five years of imprisonment, and from two- to five-fold the value of the stolen property.

Atayal people
Smangus is a community of Atayal speaking people. The Atayal are one of the largest indigenous ethno-linguistic groups in Taiwan. The Atayal people's territories cover the mountainous areas of northern Taiwan. They maintained a high degree of independence up until the late nineteenth century when there began to be increasing conflict over access to forest resources by the camphor industry. Conflict over natural resources continued after the Japanese took over Taiwan in 1895. The Atayal are known for being a proudly independent people and it was not until 1930 and the Wushe Rebellion that they finally submitted to Japanese rule. The Atayal still often live in high mountain areas that have not been developed like other parts of Taiwan and this has contributed to them maintaining a strong sense of independence to this day. Atayal share a set of rituals and prohibitions known as the gaga, a system of traditional law inherited from the ancestors and held by the elders within patrilineal clan groups. The knowledge contained in the gaga is important to define traditional territory and the use of natural resources on that territory. They observe a distinct set of mortuary practices although these were eradicated during the Japanese colonial period. The practice of facial tattooing also ended during the Japanese era.

Smangus blog
The Smangus community created an English-language blog to disseminate information about the case. This was the first time in Taiwan that indigenous peoples had used an English blog for activism. http://smangus.blogspot.com

David Reid International Master's of Taiwan Studies program National Chengchi University, Taiwan reid.david@yahoo.com.au

Poster presented at "East by Southeast: Multiple Perspectives on Asia", a conference of the Society for East Asian Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association and the Taiwan Society for Anthropology and Ethnology at Academia Sinica, Taipei, 2-5 July 2009.

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