‘Aborigines need respect’

CALL FOR SINCERITY:Republican Party legislative candidate Rahic Amind says the non-indigenous majority should sincerely respect Aboriginal people

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Indigenous legislative campaigns should focus on economic and educational policy rather than social benefits, Republican Party legislative candidate Rahic Amind said, adding that “welfare colonialism” is holding back progress on Aboriginal issues

Amind, a member of the Amis people campaigning for one of the three Legislative Yuan seats reserved for plains Aborigines, said policies such as mandating employers to provide additional holiday time for Aborigines acted as “morphine,” which failed to directly address the economic and educational challenges they face.

Independent plains Aborigines candidate Mayaw Biho said that employers should be required to give Aboriginal workers two additional days off every year to participate in annual festivals, up from the current one day per year.

“Holiday policy is superficial and likely to generate substantial controversy,” Amind said, adding that allowing for additional days would raise question about whether Aborigines should continue to get time off for the Lunar New Year.

He said it was more important to spend efforts to make the nation’s Han Chinese majority sincerely respect Aborigines.

“We should not just work to ensure that Aboriginal children study Aboriginal culture — a more important responsibility is ensuring that Han Chinese people are also familiar with Aborigines,” he said, calling for national curriculum guidelines to be revised to provide mandatory indigenous culture classes.

He also said additional busing should be provided in Aboriginal areas to ensure continued education, as falling student numbers leads to the closure of many remote schools.

On the issue of Aboriginal self-governance, Amind said that a National Affairs Conference should be held to allow each village and ethic group to present its needs.

Amind, who was originally running as an independent candidate, said he had held three months of discussions with party officials before accepting the Republic Party’s nomination.

He added that he supported an immediate national referendum on unification or independence, adding that either was better than “putting off the problem” by maintaining the “status quo.”

His nomination was announced yesterday by the Republic Party, along with that of Chang Yao-yuan (張耀元), a doctor who is set to run in Changhua County’s second district.

The new announcements brought the party’s number of district candidates to 15, five more than the minimum 10 required to be eligible for at-large legislative seats.

The party was founded earlier this year by legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) following her resignation from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).