Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Local township returns to indigenous name after 50 years

Taipei, Jan. 1 (CNA) The name Sanmin Township is history, the indigenous town in Kaohsiung County having been officially renamed Namasiya Township Tuesday to mark a new beginning on the first day of the year and the end of 50 years of conforming to a transplanted name.

Sanmin Township became the first indigenous town to reassume an indigenous name after the township council unanimously agreed to change the township name to Namasiya in December 2007. More towns are expected to follow its lead, said Icyang Parod, Chairman of Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP).

Persons from the Bunun tribe account for 70 percent of the population, which also includes individuals from the Tsou, Paiwan and Atayal tribes, as well as a few Hoklos and Hakkas. In the 1950s, the Kuomintang (KMT) regime changed the name of the town from Maya to Sanmin, a name derived from KMT founder Sun Yat-sun's Three Principles of the People.

The name rectification is in line with appeals from the indigenous movement as well as the "New Partnership between the Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Taiwan" treaty signed by President Chen Shui-bian in 1999 and reaffirmed in 2002, Icyang said.

The treaty undertakes to restore the traditional names of indigenous tribes and lands, he said, adding that the CIP will offer assistance and funding to townships applying for name rectification.

Namasiya is a southern Tsou indigenous name for the Nanzihsian River, a major river that flows from the Mount Jade, said Husong Istanda, Mayor of the Namasiya Township.

The Namasiya case is expected to inspire other indigenous towns to follow suit, Icyang said, noting that Sioulin Township in Hualien County submitted a plan to rename itself "Taroko Township" in December 2007.

"In fact, there are many indigenous towns in Taiwan with names unrelated to the indigenous language or culture of their inhabitants. For example, Fusing Township in Taoyuan County, Heping Township in Taichung County, Renai Township and Sinyi Township in Nantou County, Datong Township in Yilan County, and Gwangfu Township in Hualien County, " Icyang said.

Citizens and cultural workers of Sanmin Township have long questioned the political ideology behind the renaming of their village, but didn't start pushing to rectify the name until June 2007, Icyang said.

At first the town council planned to rename the township Maya, its original name before the KMT era, before settling on Namasiya.