Government authorities are once again
resorting to might and lawsuits to kick vulnerable groups off their land,
without providing any assistance to help them rebuild their lives
So it continues. After Dapu (大埔) and
Huaguang (華光), another vulnerable group is facing evictions and fines for
“illegally” living on, and profiting from, land that the government wants back.
The victims this time are elderly fruit farmers in Lishan (梨山), Greater Taichung.
The story begins long ago, when the
government sought to resettle a number of mainlander Kuomintang veteran
soldiers who had been mobilized — for many at the cost of their lives — to
build the Central Cross-Island Highway (中橫公路) during the 1950s. A number of them were moved to Lishan, at about
2,000m altitude, to begin a new life as fruit farmers. Through an arrangement
with the Forestry Bureau, the residents leased the land they lived on, which
needed to be renewed every nine years. Thus began their new lives, growing
apples, peaches, and other high-altitude fruit.
This was their home for more than four, in
some cases five, decades. Then, on the morning of Aug. 30, officials from the
Dongshih Forest District Office, accompanied by police and workers, moved into
the area of Rongxing Village (榮興) to begin tearing down fruit orchards, wooden shelters, and homes. As
the executors did their work, 85-year-old Ma Yu-ru (馬玉如) fell to his knees and begged
them to at least wait one more week so that he could pluck his fruit. His pleas
were in vain. Ma, homeless, now leaves at another veteran’s house.
The case stems from approval by the
Executive Yuan of the Techi Reservoir (德基水庫) flood-treatment project for the Dajia River area. The plan
included a Council of Agriculture decree, formulated in April 2008, which involved
cataloging agricultural land used on woodland slopes with a more than 28-degree
angle as “overused” and therefore targeted for reforestation. Unfortunately for
the farmers of Lishan, they happened to inhabit such land. The leases were voided,
and the residents were ordered to leave. Those who refused then faced civil
lawsuits for “illegally profiting” from the land, the same type of fine slapped
on many of the residents of Huaguang, the majority of whom are also elderly “mainlanders.”
Feeling that he had failed to protect the
members of the community, Ye Jin-zhu (葉進住), the head of the village tried to commit suicide with a Swiss
knife on Friday, but police saved his life and rushed him to a medical clinic.
Here is yet another case in which the
government implements land policies without any consideration for the impact on
vulnerable communities. While nobody disputes the need for flood prevention
(just as nobody objects to “development” and “modernity”), one wonders whether
it was necessary to file lawsuits against elderly individuals with little
means, who made not inconsiderable contributions to this country. They were
offered no alternatives, no assistance to facilitate a move and to rebuild the
little that is left of their lives — yet again — somewhere else.
Governments need not have signed the two
U.N. covenants, which President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has made a big show of,
to be aware that one cannot deracinate the elderly and cast them to the winds,
without some form of assistance, let alone add to their burden by suing them
for refusing to cooperate. Surely there are more humane ways to deal with such
occasions.
More demolitions and removals of fruit
orchards are expected on Sept. 6. (Photo PNN)
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