Allow Aboriginal youths to serve in villages: activists

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Aboriginal youths should be allowed to work in their villages instead of doing mandatory military service, activists said yesterday.

“Due to an excessive amount of soldiers, there are numerous alternatives to military service, including with the police, firefighters and in the technology industry, with alternative military service in an industrial capacity a recent addition. This is an unfair and unreasonable phenomenon,” independent Aboriginal legislative candidate Mayaw Biho said.

“We hope the Council of Indigenous Peoples can create an opportunity to allow young Aborigines to return to their villages and perform ‘cultural alternative military service,’” Biho added.

All men between 18 and 36 are required to serve 11 months of compulsory military service, with different forms of alternative military service available to some based on family connections, health and individual skills.

Biho said that Aborigines already contribute more than their fair share to the armed forces, constituting 7 percent of regular military personnel, with more than 60 percent in special roles, even though they account for only 2 percent of the population.

Aboriginal men choose to enter the military due to a lack of better opportunities, he said, adding the concentration of resources and opportunities in urban areas has caused most young indigenous people to leave their villages, leading to rapid assimilation and loss of traditional culture.

Giving young people the opportunity to serve in their villages after graduation could help them connect with their roots, he said.

“There should at least be a window of opportunity, because otherwise, many young Aborigines born in Taipei might never visit their parents’ villages,” he said.

Biho said the services actually performed could vary based on individual skills, possibly including teaching, farming or care for the elderly.

Amis Defense Alliance member Kawlo lyun Pacidal said that at yearly sacrificial festivals in the villages she is familiar with, most of the burden of preparation falls on the shoulders one or two young people who remain, adding that alternative military service should be allowed to promote Aboriginal culture.

She added that under A New Partnership Between the Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Taiwan (新夥伴關係), a treaty-like document signed in 2009 by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) before he was elected and indigenous representatives, Aboriginal communities are recognized as quasi-states that should have the right to offer alternative military service options.

“Cultural alternative military service” would allow Aborigines to “fight for ourselves” in the battle against assimilation by modern civilization, Aboriginal artist Siki Sufin said, adding that the contributions by Aboriginal fighters during World War II and the Chinese Civil War have yet to be recognized.

Council of Indigenous Peoples Department of Education and Culture senior official Wagi Taro said that the council supported the idea of “cultural alternative military service” in principle, but that it would have to hold discussions with related government agencies to determine the feasibility and implementation of the proposal.