Governor General of Saint Lucia receives Taiwan indigenous delegation
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Contact: Embassy of Taiwan
Monday, February 15, 2010 – H. E. Dame Pearlette Louisy, the Governor General, graciously received at the Government House an indigenous delegation of seven from the Township of Lion in Taiwan on Tuesday, 9th February, 2010. The delegation came to visit Saint Lucia at the invitation of Honourable Lenard Montoute, Minister for Social Transformation, Public Service, Human Resource Development, Youth and Sports and Parliamentary Representative of Gros Islet, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Township of Gros Islet, and to sign a Twinning Agreement to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation of the people of the two townships.
The Governor General welcomed the visit by the Township of Lion and looked forward to more local government alliances with an aim to further bolster the already close relationships on the government-to-government basis between Saint Lucia and Taiwan. She also showed her strong interest in the commonalities that the Township of Lion and Gros Islet possess in terms of agricultural produce, like mangoes, watermelon, and the common ferns, let alone their geographical similarities. The indigenous costumes and patterns of the delegation also attracted the Governor General’s attention, and both H. E. Tom Chou, the Ambassador of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Mayor Hou Chin-chu, Head of the delegation, explained.
Ambassador Chou reported to the Governor General that the distinguished delegation was handpicked and supported by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the first indigenous township to represent the entire indigenous community to visit Saint Lucia and showcase their culture.
Since 2003, the Township organized annual International Maliba Hunting Festival which has won both local and international commendation for its efforts in preserving traditional indigenous philosophy and technique of hunting to share, and to combine it with tourism and business incentives. Over the years it has received hundreds of foreign guests, including VIPs for the Kaohsiung World Games 2009, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers and Ambassadors and dignitaries from Asia-Pacific, Central and South American and the Caribbean countries. They were all impressed with the rich culture and extraordinary hospitality of its people in the Township on the one hand. On the other, its well planned infrastructure and e-Government establishments in the Town Hall complex are memorable and educational to visitors. The Library, Digital Opportunity Learning Center, Cultural Museum, Health Center, Police Station, Household Registration Office, are interlinked via the Internet with County and central government authorities.
A cultural presentation was conducted by the visiting delegation with honour in the form of singing ancient songs of love and friendship. The scene was heated up when the Governor General was presented with an indigenous vest of pink with totems of the Paiwan tribe, and a pair of wooden cups joined together, with which the Governor General drank in a synchronized way with Mayor Hou as a symbol of everlasting mutual respect and friendship.
Members of the delegation felt extremely honoured by the audience with the Governor General and regarded it as a life time memory. They concluded their visit on Thursday, 11th of February.
The delegation was also received by Honourable Stephenson King, the Prime Minister, Honourable Dr. Rose Mary Husbands-Mathurin, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Honourable Lenard Montoute, and Honourable Rufus Bousquet.
On occasion, the delegation presented traditional songs and dance of its indigenous Paiwan tribe culture. Exhibition of traditional costumes, artifacts, photographs and accessories were held at both Gros Islet Library and Coconut Bay Resort in Vieux Fort. In addition, the delegation was guided to tour the famous Dauphin indigenous remains, with the companion of H. E. Earl Huntley, the CARICOM Ambassador to Haiti.
Being the largest in terms of size among the 33 townships and city of Pingtung County in southern Taiwan, the Township of Lion consists of eight villages covering an area of 302 square kilometers with a population of five thousand one hundred, of which over 95% is of Paiwan tribe origin.
Currently, fourteen indigenous tribes are officially recognized in Taiwan, namely, Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Tsou, Thao, Saisyat, Tao (Yami), Kavalan, Truku, Sakizaya, and Sediq, each with their own distinct language, cultural features, traditional customs and social structure. To Taiwan and the world alike, indigenous people are an important source of history and culture as well as a treasure to be cherished.
All the indigenous peoples in Taiwan belong to the Austronesian family culturally and linguistically. It is one of the largest language families in the world, both in terms of the number of languages (1244) and its geographical extent. Austronesian languages are spoken by approximately 380 million people in Madagascar, the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian islands, and New Zealand.
Paiwan tribe inhabits on both sides of the southern Central Mountain Range of Taiwan, mainly in Pingtung County, roughly 86,000 in population, ranking the third largest indigenous people among the 14 officially recognized tribes. The chief of the noble class in each clan is at the same time the leader in politics and military, but not in religion. Each clan is an independent and autonomous unit. As Paiwan tribe has a large population and the family-blood relationship is spread widely, the alliance between close relatives is common among the noble families. In some areas, a few noble chiefs rule over big clans combined with the alliance of several, even dozens of villages. The legendary Kingdom of Tjaquvuquvulj, located in the mountain areas of the current Township of Lion in Pingtung County, was one the most notable case in point which has received frequent discussions about its existence, social structure and legacies among academics in Taiwan nowadays. |
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