The first trial of Taipei's "Higher Administrative Court" opened today. People from Siraya came from the south to attend the hearing, filling the court to defend the most basic natural human rights. A group of Sirayas, a minority group from Tainan, wanted to clear the name of the

The first trial of Taipei's "Higher Administrative Court" opened today. Siraya people came from the south to attend the trial, filling the courtroom to defend the most basic natural human rights. (Picture source: Taiwan's "China Times Electronic News")

China Taiwan Network According to Taiwan's "United Daily News" report on February 26, a group of ethnic minority Siraya people from Tainan wanted to correct their ethnic group's name, and their application was "administrated" by the Taiwan authorities. After the court rejected the lawsuit, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled against it. After the appeal, the Supreme Administrative Court finally determined that ethnic minority ancestry is innate and does not obtain status through registration. It abandoned the original decision and sent it back for a review. The first trial of Taipei's "Higher Administrative Court" opened today (26th). Siraya people came from the south to attend and filled the court to defend the most basic natural human rights.

In 2015, the Siraya people, led by Lai Qingde, then the mayor of Tainan, went north to file a petition with the Taipei High Administrative Court to file a lawsuit to clear their names. On May 19, 2016, the first instance held that the plaintiff and his immediate family members had never registered as ethnic minorities with local public offices before 1945 and therefore did not have ethnic minority status according to relevant regulations, and the case was ruled against. Representative Wan Shujuan, executive secretary of the Siraya Ethnic Minority Affairs Promotion Association, came to hear the verdict. After learning that she had lost the case, she could not hide her disappointment and cried with excitement.

"People without human rights are as if they have no soul!" Wan Zhengxiong, chairman of the Siraya Cultural Association, said that the Siraya ethnic group was already in Taiwan more than 400 years ago, but due to the destruction and oppression of foreign enemies, the West The Raya culture has disappeared, and we hope to regain historical justice and fight for basic human rights through the movement to clear the name. The

case was abandoned and sent back by the Supreme Administrative Court in May last year, and the Taipei High Administrative Court conducted the second preparatory process for the first instance today. The 112 plaintiffs filed a compulsory lawsuit, requesting the court to order the "Minority Committee" to recognize them as ethnic minorities in accordance with the law. Lin Yongsong, the lawyer appointed by the Siraya people, said that the "Supreme Administrative Court" judgment clearly stated that ethnic minority identity is not prerequisite for household registration. He also said that the "Minority Committee" and the original trial did not recognize the plaintiff's ethnic minority identity as illegal.

Lin Yongsong emphasized that Tsai Ing-wen’s authorities claimed to recognize the ethnic minorities in the plains, and the "Minority Commission" also recognized it to the outside world, but made the opposite claim in the lawsuit, "saying one thing and doing another, playing two sides, asking the court to directly judge That’ll be great!”