I will stand up for you, Smangus. Lokah!

Original Post: http://blog.roodo.com/duams_d/archives/3255709.html#comment-10483095

Translated by Shun-Ling Chen, SJD candidate, Harvard Law School /
TIPA（Taiwan Indigenous Peoples' (NGO) Alliance ）

我，以一位泰雅青年的身分，向司馬庫斯的族人致意。

I, as a youth of Tayal nation, give my due respect to my fellowmen in Smangus.

After learning about the Smangus wind-fall beech event from the Internet, I inevitably felt angry. Nevertheless, because I left my village since a young age, there also rose some mixed feelings. I’ve tried to avoid recognizing it as a predicament, and I have always thought that I could overcome. My village is nothing comparable to the remote Shangri-la, the village in the deep mountains in Hsin-chu. There is a convenient highway cutting through the village, tourist sites with much prospect of money, and many inhabitants who moved in from the plain area. I’d like to say this is more developed, but I don’t know what exactly it has brought to us. The convenience which I once thought it to be turns out to be tremendous harm.

On weekends, I used to visit my village if I don’t have other obligations. The previous time I was there, I stayed in the front yard with my family after dinner. I found more firebugs in the bushes than before. That was an evening, filled with beautiful scenes. I recalled that a year ago, the firebugs I could see in the front yard were less than one-third of the number I saw in that very evening. I thought this was the magnificence of Nature, but only to find out later that the several acres of woods behind my house were completely cut off. I was told that someone from outside of the village is conducting a development something there. But that area was the habitat for firebugs.

This is my village, and it is full of contradictories, like every other villages. One day, even grass and trees will turn away from you, and you gave these all up only to grab a bunch of money bills in hand. I wonder, even if we were only standing outside to watch it happen, aren’t we also indirectly facilitating this process? I left the village where I grew up when I was in the 4th grade to study in the urban area. I went there to learn from you (Han people) the way to step upward. I had to accept what you tried to teach me. Because you made these rules, gave us preferential treatments, but at the same time made us forget who we are. Perhaps everyone will try to trace back to find who they are in their growing up, but what about those who are unable to for being blind? Blindness, as eagles that forgot how to fly, and as fish that forgot how to swim, if we still remember our pride, how could we ever forget the village where we grew up.

I am not very proficient in my own language. What’s more, whenever I enter a village of indigenous people, I feel inferior for I have left my own for long. But I do feel proud of being an indigenous.

I will stand up for you. Smangus. Lokah!!

Some people say that my village will disappear in 50 years as a result of landslide. I say I don’t want to see my village lost and disappear because of being blind.

* Lokah is a Tayal expression which is used to invigorate and inspirit.

While in Smangus, do as the Smangusians do.

Welcome to Village of Smangus

Please follow the rules below:

1.Please check in at the registration station on your left. Notify an employee if you have made a reservation for accommodation.

2.Government officials should show ID to pass the registration station.

3.Park your car in parking area.

4.No camping is allowed.

5.Lower your voice after 10 p.m.

6.No plants or any agriculture products should be collected or removed.It is your responsibility to protect the forest.

Smangus Village

Translated by Ya-Yun Teng, New York University

The Second Conversation between Smangus and the Bureau of Forestry

Arranged by Wali and Lahuy
Translated by Shun-Ling Chen, SJD candidate, Harvard Law School

1. Field notes in Smangus

At 10:55 on Apr 30th morning, 2007. Eight people from the Zhu-Dong Station of Hsin-Chu Forestry District Office of the Bureau of Forestry, including Mr. Yu-Tsai Luo (羅玉財), came to Smangus and were spotted by villagers. Smangus villagers, Ikit, Masay, Amin, Sasan, Masa, Sangas and Wali had a conversation with them in front of the Smangus Visitor Center.

“We have to check the patrol box. It is something that we do every month. It does not mean anything more than that.” Luo claimed.

“People from the Bureau always seem to drive too fast, especially in the village,” Amin said.

“We’ve also read [the beech incident] from the news. Some officials of higher level will come over,” someone from the Bureau said.

“It is not necessary. We did not get any good response in headquarter of the Bureau. You will not sound any more convincing even if you come to Smangus and talk to us in person.” replied Amin.

“But we still need to communicate. Indigenous villages and the Bureau usually have different takes. We fear that what happened in this particular case will become a common one.

“We indigenous people need our innocence to be declared,” said Sasan.

“We’ll try to work toward this direction in the Court of Appeal,” said Luo.

“It is really unacceptable that our cleaning wind-fall trees are interpreted as larceny. If this dispute can be resolved, it will be good.” said Masay.

“We share the same goal.” someone from the Bureau claimed.

“This decision is totally disrespectful to indigenous peoples. We’ve had the idea of conservation for generations. We won’t cut the woods or hunt animals without limits. This is the environment where we live. We should manage our traditional territory following our ancestor’s way. Our ancestor has never chopped off all the trees, unlike what the Japanese or the KMT Government did when they first came,” said Masa.

Amin followed, “In the harsh times like this, please respect the village. In this atmosphere, please bear with the situation for some time. This incident is serious and has caused harm to the village. If you insist on going in, it might cause …(more tension) between the village and the Bureau. Please respect how the village thinks.

“We came with a mission. Letting two of us in would be enough. If we cannot sign the document [in the patrol box], we’ll have to write some reports to explain why we were not able to get things done. If so, this might have negative impacts on our future communication with the village,” insisted Luo.

Amin: Our chief and the head of this Lin (lowest administrative unit in the Local Government Law) are currently away and won’t be back until this evening. Villagers’ consensus is very clear. Please do respect the village and do not complicate the situation even more. The villagers feel more outraged. We (those who were at presence), however, are the ones that are more willing to communicate. Or perhaps we should communicate only until the village is willing to do so.

Masay:“If the new director comes, we’ll let him know this is how we deal with this”

Amin: “Those who sent to our village from the Bureau, they really drive too fast when they come. In our village pact we state the speed limit clearly. Your people seem to have ignored it. Please spread the words when you’re back, that not to speed when they drive in Smangus.

“We’ll definitely do so”, Luo said.

Amin: “The case is currently on trial. It is a harsh time. We’re judged guilty. We have to insist our take, and will not accept such judiciary result.

Luo: “They are two separate issues.”

Amin: “It is the Bureau who sued us. I don’t think it would be a separate issue in any case. We have already hurt by all this.”

“I meant that issue (the beech event) and entering Smangus to sign the document in the patrol box are different things. Last time I entered with the permission of the head of the Lin. We need to continue the communication with each other in the future, and live in peace with each other.” Luo said.

Ikit: “We still insist that you should not enter, now with a serious event like this. And look how heavy the punishment has been decided without reason. You’ve taken the beech away to sell somewhere else. We only took the remains, and now we’re criminals? Is this reasonable? So many damages have been made to this forest, and you guys are just wandering around here. If you’re really concerned about protecting the forest, why don’t you go in there and catch those bad guys?”

Wali: “I just want to know why you need to sign the document. If you just want to do it as a routine, it doesn’t seem to be important to me. If all you want is signatures, we can sign for you as well. But why do you want to go in there? You can say that’s your job, but we also have our jobs. If you insist that’s the reason why we have to let you in, we can also set a patrol box there and sign the document ourselves, or even set a patrol box in your Bureau and go in there and sign.”

Luo: “But the Bureau-administered land is in there!”

Ikit: “What do you mean by “Bureau- administered land’? That’s Smangus’s “traditional territory”. Are you still pretending that you don’t know about it? You come with so many people this time, and the issue is not even settled yet. Are you trying to incite some conflicts?”

“Don’t take it badly. … We’re heading back,” said Luo.

Sangus: “It is already a courtesy for us to let you Bureau people stay here. When we protest in the Bureau [Headquarter] in Taipei, we were sitting outside. It was your luck that I did not bring my son. If I did, I would have brought a knife with me. Now you’re here in my home, you can either apologize or say you want to go to the patrol box. But before the issue is settled, don’t you ever think about checking that patrol box again. Tell your supervisors to come and apologize now.”

Ikit: “You don’t need to go to the Giant Tree. We will protect it well. It will never fall.”

Amin: “Today we’ve sent out people to clean the area around the Giant Trees. We send our young people to clean the roads and to investigate and maintain the order of the forest every week. We are in the first term of our five-year Oyunm (inherent hunting field and traditional territory) Watch and Revitalization Project, which not only covers basic issue, but also leads to adjustments in the hunting and collecting practices. The Project prohibits collecting forest products and cutting woods. I think we have been making all the efforts, it’s not that we do not care about the environment.”

Ikit: “If the forest is been damaged, we’ll notify the Bureau.”

2. On the other end of the phone, Smangus members talked with the visitors from the Bureau:

At 10:55, on April 30, 2007, eight people from Zhu-Dong Station of Hsin-Chu Forestry District Office of the Bureau of Forestry, including Luo, were planning to enter Smangus for regular “patrol. Icyeh the chief, Batu and Yuraw the elders had a conversation with the Bureau people over a landline in the village.

“We’re only coming to sign the document,” said Luo, who kept making laughing sounds – hahaha – when he spoke.

“In the moment like this, don’t you enter our traditional territory to sign anything, and don’t try to enter ever,” said elder Batu.

3. Emphases Smangus wants to make:

　Smangus is not picking on the Bureau itself. But in the past years, the Bureau that represents the Government power in regulating forestry has been doing a very lousy job. (We will continue to tell stories about what the Bureau of Forestry and the Veteran’s Affair Commission have done in our traditional territory, so that the essence of their work, their attitude in carry out their work, the way they treat us, and our responses, can be understood and examined by more people.) This beech event is a public prosecution case, and is decided according to Section 4 and Section 6 of Article 52 in the Forestry Act. Can the Bureau claim that it has nothing to do with the decision? Don’t they have to be responsible? Are they not part of the Government?

We need to keep asking the higher authorities of the Bureau: why weren’t they present and involved in the negotiation in the three most important stages – the negotiation with the village (October14, 2005), investigations of the criminal case (four times in 2006) and the testimony in the lowest court (Feb 14th and Apr 4th of 2007)? After the case was indicted by the prosecutor, the Bureau only sent a rank-and-file officer, Mr. Zhi-Xien Yu (余智賢) from Xio-Laun Division of Zhu-Dong Station of Hsin-Chu Forestry District Office to represent the Bureau and testify. In the second time when Mr. Yu’s testified, we were astonished that the answer he gave most frequently was “I don’t really know.” How come someone who doesn’t know about anything is qualified to testify on behalf of the Government?

Under the Forestry Act, Article 15 (or the Section 4 of Article 15 in the amended Forestry Act), it also addresses: "In forests that are located in indigenous peoples' traditional territories, indigenous peoples may collect forest products according to their needs and customs. As for the area, kinds of products, time, whether there should be a recompense for the collected goods, or other regulations they should follow, the body overseeing forestry in the central government should consult the body overseeing indigenous affairs in the central government and they should jointly decide.” But in the first two negotiation stages, why didn't the testimonies given to the prosecutor from the Bureau ever refer to this article as an alternative way to solve the issue? And this has led to the decision made by Taiwan HsinChu District Court on April 18th - three villagers were imposed the declared crime of stealing the main product of national forests.

The whole Smangus village was outraged by the decision. Since the protest in Taipei on April 22, until today (May 2), Hsin-Chu Forestry District Office of the Bureau kept contacting villagers for a good talk. Batu the elder of the village replied on the phone: "What is it there for us to talk with you? In our negotiation in the Bureau (Headquarter) in Taipei, didn't you make it clear by that the decision has nothing to do with you? You people in the Hsin-Chu Forestry District Office kept calling to say that you want to have a conversation. There's no such need! If you want to talk with us, please write down what you want to talk about in words. We will surely be willing to read it word-by-word."

Smangus strongly urge the Administrative Yuan that they should better reduce the size of the Bureau. After all the waste of the tax for 62 years, what becomes of the mountains and forests in Taiwan? The overseeing body of natural resources in the central government should be reorganized. One premise for this reorganization is to recognize that: many indigenous communities are more capable of carrying out this task than the Bureau and National Park Administrations, because this is the place that breeds the life of our people. What we see with our eyes is not only forest resources, but many spiritual elements that exist in the universe of our forest. For most times, forests won't be protected only by slogans of forest conservation. Now we won't keep silent anymore. We will speak as the owner of the land. That is our land. We will protect the forests and streams of our tribe as their guardians. No one knows this environment better than those who live here. We, the people in Smangus, are capable of and determined (to protect the environment).

Interview with Elder Masay

Reprinted from Coolcould Forum: Who’s the Executioner? Smangus or the Forestry Bureau?
Written by Tzuyaya (Stringer journalist of the Coolcloud website)
Translated by Chie-Yu Hong

“We are far more qualified to protect the forest than the Forestry Bureau!” claimed former director-general of The Association for the Development of Atayal Smangus, Masay Sulong.

Masay stated that Taiwan's aerial images could reveal how those thick forests in Alishan and Cilan mountain areas have turned from green to bare due to over exploitation under the Forestry Bureau's jurisdiction. Nevertheless, Smangus still embraces dense forests, limpid creeks and towering giant trees, which demonstrate well the villagers' environmental sense.

Smangus has devoted to forest conservation for the practical concern of living with the environment. Though the people have protected not only the environment but also their homelands through forestation, their concerns come to serious conflicts with government departments. To illustrate, three villagers were charged with stealing by the Forestry Bureau for violating the Forestry Act; they were sentenced to six months in prison with two years of probation and fined NT$160,000 dollars each. However, they had only found a wind-fall beech from typhoon in the year before, while rushing to repair the damaged road, and attempted to carry the tree back to their village for reuse.

Masay sigh, saying that our government had been blind to the indigene's efforts for the environment. “Rather, our government values wind-fall and withered trees above all” he retorted.

“We've been thinking about how to preserve our mountains and our lands” said Masay. He remarked that the ancestors of indigenes had indeed ample environmental sense. They would, for example, build a retaining wall by laying stones after logging. They could understand the values of planting trees because they knew that Nature could run short of supply and trees could hold back mudflows. They left the animals for propagation in summer and did not hunt until celebrations in winter. They protected their rivers for clean water to drink.

Masay expressed his hope that our government could listen in patience to Smangus voices and work out an agreement through equal consultations to let the Smangus care for their own mountains and keep their cultural traditions. “Isn't it nice to respect each other?” said Maysay.

Maysay sighed gently and led me to the square in the village.

“This is my production named ‘La qi klokah.’ The term ‘La qi’ means a child, while ‘klokah’ means way to go. In other words, this name implies ‘Way to go, my child!” Masay pointed for me.

Taking a careful look, I discovered a path of foot prints carved quite neatly on the front right of this woodcarving. Masay addressed that they symbolized Smangus ancestors' tracks. At that time there was no outside force from our government to disturb the indigene lives; hence, though their ancestors had difficult days, they still stuck to their lives, nurtured offspring and survived with Nature.

“Right after then, here came the Japanese geta” said Masay. When the Japanese Government came to Taiwan, they banned facial tattooing and other traditions, for they did not understand indigenous cultural backgrounds. Masay pointed at the footprints between the geta and said to me, “Tayal people lost their pace, and culture began to break down.”

Masay continued, “Later, leather shoes and high heels ensued.” He described that after the government of the Republic of China settled down in Taiwan, domestic economy started to thrive and Tayal people sold their lands and children to improve their living standards. They drew big businesses to their villages all for their own good, not treasuring the lands from ancestors.

Masay went on to explain that he did not mean to accuse big businesses, but oftentimes they did not mind aboriginal way of living while exploiting and making profits vigorously; unfortunately, villagers could do nothing with these big businesses' coercion and bribery but selling lands one after another.

“If we do not appreciate the land that grows us, what else shall our culture depend upon?” said Masay. He hoped that Smangus children could strive hard to keep protecting the lands they inherited from ancestors, and walked in measured steps, just like the small feet on the left of the woodcarving.

“La qi klokah!”

Declaration of Indigenous Land Rights

Original Text written by Neqo Soqluman、Lahuy Icyeh (graduate students of Providence University, Taiwan)

Translated by Class of Contemporary Taiwanese Society

Department of Humanities and Social Science

National Chiao Tung University

People define the land, and the land defines the people. The Tayal inherent territory and natural sovereignty are the very foundation of Tayal culture. Therefore, the Tayal people declare that we have the full sovereignty, control and management over our ancestral lands.

To this day, the Tayal people—individuals and the village—have never by any means given up our ownership and use of our ancestral lands! That is to say we have never lost the rights to our traditional territory. This land has always been ours. For this reason, the Tayal people have the inherent rights to enjoy and manage our territory such as through agricultural cultivation, wild craft gathering, hunting, and current tourism development. This is our territorial heritage.

The state intervention is in fact an intrusion and offense to the Tayal subjectivity and sovereignty, which is an extreme example of the State’s brutality and oppression. How can the court prosecute the landowners as “thievery” when we simply use things from our own land? Therefore, in the premise of asserting our traditional territory and natural sovereignty, we demand that every form of state intervention be withdrawn from our land.

If the state claims that we do not have the land rights, please give concrete evidence to support such accusation. Or, please explain how the state acquired this land in the first place? And when did the Tayal people publicly announced that we give up our inherent traditional territory and natural rights?

What do you charge us with?

April 24th, 2007

Narrated by Amin, an elder of Smangus
Translated by Hsin-Hsin Liu
Arranged by Nequo Soqluman

I am Amin, the director-general of The Association for the Development of Atayal Smangus na Kalan, and a presbrtery in church as well. I don’t have a diploma higher than elementary education. Since I was a child, I have spent all my lifetime in Smangus, running around the mountains every day. Smangus is my home, and my village, where my families, my friends live. Moreover, it is the place my children were born and brought up.

To my understanding, it is only the shared tribal conventions and values that I know and respect. I know very little about the state law. I will obey the court order if they provide credible reasons. But so far I still believe I did not do anything wrong. From the viewpoint of my community, this is a very weird situation. The event does not make any sense at all, and I really don’t understand where we went wrong. Why should I be put into jail and get fined just because I took things in my house? Our living space is compressed and we don’t have much freedom. Even the court is not on our side. I have a question, “Do we ever have a right to live?” Indeed I can not understand why it is a crime to take the wood on our own land, which has always practiced since our childhood. They (the Forestry Bureau) have chopped down all the trees in the mountains but they are not charged. Besides, we do everything with our clear conscience, and never break the natural laws, that is, in Han people’s words; we never violate the law of eco-protection. Moreover, in fact, the beech DID fall down by itself because of the typhoon. Who will have stolen it that way if they meant to? During those days, we suffered from the landslide and the blocked traffic. Our children could not make their way to school. Therefore, we had to use our excavator and clear the roads. God knows how long it would take us to wait till the Forestry Bureau comes to help! They should have paid us for all the above-mentioned work instead. So we dealt with it on our own, and put the beech, aside of the road and planned to use it for the purpose of our village image. Our community is a hot touring spot where many tourists will come. If we meant to commit a crime, we wouldn’t have bothered to lay the beech aside for more than a month, instead of taking it home while solving the road block. By the time when we decided to take it, we found nothing remained but branches. Other parts had already been taken away by the Forest Bureau. They are the thieves who showed not a tiny respect to our village. My people and I insist to defend Smangus. We are innocent. We will never admit the offence of larceny to the Forest Bureau. I believe this is our right as a human!


** Added by Amin on April 28th, 2007

God has given this land for years and many Smangus people have been born on this land. We shall not be stumbled by the sentence of the first instance this time, and shall continue to manage this traditional territory that our ancestors have left to us. I persevered with my belief and will fight for it. I will let all of our indigenous friends know hear the voice of Smangus, which is, “Defend our land, our traditional territory and the spirit of our conventions. If I admit the crime, I will lose the most essential dignity and have the spirit of my village’s conference trampled on my feet.” I give my many thanks to all the friends who care for this event. May God bless you! Please continue to keep us in your prayer. Peace to all of you!

WHAT I WANT TO SAY IS WHY A LOG OF BEECH TREE WAS AT ROADSIDE -- elder Batu's word from heart.

Note from translator Tonyc: I live in New Jersey, USA and try to help raise the publicity of this issue. I try to capture the original essence of elder Batu's disclosure by coordinating the usages of different languages. Welcome to give correction if any place in the translation is not authentic.

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"What I want to say is why a log of beech tree was at roadside. For 26 years, the Forestry Bureau has been in partnership with some business people who casually develop roads in the bamboo woods, the area of about 0.97 square kilometer, where this event happened. The development has seriously damaged the land our ancestors gave us. We feel resentful and sad!" (see picture 1: roads are casually built for cutting bamboos) --Batu (Tribal assembly -- Stated clerk)

What I want to say is why a log of beech tree was at roadside. This beech tree event has been going on for almost 2 years. I clearly know about how it progresses.. 　　

In about 1981 the Forestry Bureau "Sold the bamboos our ancestors Mrgwang had grown to business people." Then the business people built a road toward Smagus. At the same time, for expanding the space to grow more bamboos, the officials colluded with the business people to hire some labors form other villages. They had cut down all the trees growing among the bamboos for 5 years. Moreover, " For transporting the bamboos cut, the business people recklessly opened and built roads." This destroyed forestry and the ecological system originally in balance. As a result, now the foundation of the road through which people in Smagus link with the world outside is for 5km~7km sliding down from slope every year. 　　

About the trees cut down, "those identified valuable were all transported out. The others valueless were left to rot in the bamboo woods." I felt resentful and sad as seeing this act. Because being abused in this way, the place where the beech tree grew could not stand torrential rain. In August 31, 2005, when typhoon Feria swayed, this beech tree fell with the mud and rocks sliding down to roadside. We can see picture 2 (picture 2: Fallen beech event -- the scene of collapsed landscape)


　　For "our own people's living and students' commute between home and the school, the tribal assembly agreed to send 4 delegates to examine the road condition. " At that time the delegates did see the beech tree that blocked the road was covered by mud and rocks. "At that night when they came back to join the tribal assembly, the proposition to move this tree back to our village for the use of landscaping was raised." In clearing the road blocked, we moved this beech tree to roadside. After one month and seven days, the staff of forestry administration came to cut the tree into a few logs and transported them away, only leaving the stump.

　　In 2005, Oct. 8, when visiting the spot I saw the trunk of the beech tree gone. Right after my returning the assembly called meeting immediately and discussed that we had to take the root part of the stump back to be used for tribal landscaping.

　　 In 2005, Oct. 14, the assembly dispatched 3 people to move the stump back to the village. On the way back they were encountered by the branch office head of Heng-Shan and two policemen. They stopped and on site searched the 3 people and also called the local police and the forestry administration to visit our village. The officers demanded the 3 people to be formally interrogated. Right then we did not concede to the request. Not until at about 10 o'clock that night both sides reached consensus that " the three people would be questioned only for the record and nothing more!" So the 3 people went with the officers. However, the result became totally out of our expectation after the interrogation.

　 Soon, we received the warrant from court. Following that it was the first and the second investigations. In the civil court, the prosecutor raised bargain, saying that " why not just to admit guilty. Each of the three pays fine of 10,000 New Taiwan dollars and then this thing will trouble you no more."

　　But we as a tribe argue "Since not committing any crime, why do we need to admit guilty? Can only 10,000 dollars buy the right of our tribe?" We continued to appeal for not guilty.

　　At the third appearance in court, a lot of the tone and the words the judge questioned I could not agree to. For example, the judge asked the three defendants : "Do you have any opposition to the two witnesses' testimony? Please state your stance." The three defendants did not respond, because "they did not understand what the judge meant at all." What Elder Amin stated was his own opinion regardless of the testimony. The judge asked Amin again: "Do you have any opposition to the witnesses' testimony? You need to state your opinion." Elder Amin still presented his own opinion about the fact. After that he did not know how to say further. So he stopped. The judge asked the witnesses to leave. The silence of the three defendants did not mean that they fully agreed to the witnesses' words. In fact, we did not know whatever the exact meaning of the judge's inquiry.

　　The judge questioned again : "The stump was away from the village for 12 kilometers (the direct distance is about 2.5 kilometers), why did you go so far to take it?" On this the judge did not realize our aboriginal people's way of life. The road is the one we have been using. We have the right to take and use the bamboos and woods fallen on the way. There was not such a path and therefore we were only able to pick up those stuff within 5 kilometers to be the material for house building and for building fire for heat. Now the situation has changed. There has been a road for cars to go through. Life gets much easier. "What the judge said was not that bad. It was simply because he did not understand the life in the mountain. When having time, he is welcome to have field trips to the villages in order to understand the life of the aboriginal people, OK?"

　　We always live in highland and tie with the mountains and forest. Any tree / log fallen on the road we will pick up and use to the most without a waste, such as for building fire to keep family warm or for house improvement. Our people really feel hard understanding the law of the Republic of China. There are many points problematic in the testimony. I sat in the court but was not allowed and not able to say anything for the defendants.

　　 In 2007, April 18, the result of the first verdict : "Each of the defendants is sentenced to 6 months in jail, fined New Taiwan dollars 160,000, and given a reprieve for 2 years." The result angered our people and drove us to protest at the Forestry Bureau of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan in Taipei.

　　 In this controversy we are rational. We would like to expose this unjust regard to us to the public. Spending 4 hours on the negotiation with no positive response from the other side, our efforts were in vain. When back to the village we will be discussing about how to go on on this issue. For upholding the right of aborigines, we will hold up our ground without compromise! At this moment we need support from all our friends to escort our way. Similar to the day in April, 22, when we protested in Taipei, our Mrhua (chief) Icyeh revealed determination -- " We will appeal against the judge's decision !"

Our tribal village -- Smagnus' resolution:

1. We have been living in Taiwan for thousands of years. For only 62 years the law of the Republic of China has been applied. We do not give nor sell the land our ancestors endowed us to the country. This is the fact, isn't it? Why can the plaintiff pose the land entitlement to oppress our tribe / nation? Was this land entitlement stolen from us? Or was it made up anyway? We cannot accept the current situation! The government please be conscientious and acquit our three defendants.

2. The people of Smagus are solid. For a decade our work for building our village has been apparent. This achievement matches how we have been establishing Taiwan called home. The outcome we present yields the visitors to experience and understand our culture and history. When we work on this wholeheartedly, what we have done in this beech tree event is accused of stealing. How could this be just?

3. I am very disappointed about the attitude the government officials keep for administration. For achieving good performances in face value, they by all means take advantage of us the local. Is it a fact that our society is on the way of moral deterioration?

4. Since long before we the people of tribal village Smagus have been protesting to the Forestry Bureau. This event again alerts us that we have to tightly hold on the land our ancestors gave us and should never give it up.

5. As appealing to the higher court, altogether our village people will attend the court. This is not just the personal business of the 3 defendants. If accused of, we require the judges to regard us people of Smagus all as one body.

6. As long as we shall live, do not belittle Tayal!

Batu Icyeh 2006.04.28 morning