Taiwan aboriginal legislator [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/gao-jin-su-mei-may-chin-aboriginal-defender-or-blue-stooge/11118/1 Chin (Gao-Jin Sumei)[/url] recently went to Japan to protest about Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi’s visit to the Yasukuni shrine. I was asked to translate a press release for her. Here it is:
[quote=“May Chin’s press release”]Statement by Yang Yuanhuang (Atayal tribe)
My mother’s father was one of the main leaders of the Wushe rebellion, and was the first chief to be killed as a result. My uncle (my mother’s sister’s husband) Hanaoka Jiro (Huagang Erlang) was one of those who committed suicide on account of the Wushe rebellion. So, two of my relatives died as a result of the Wushe incident.
Another of my uncles (my mother’s brother) and my mother’s first husband, as the son and son-in-law of one of the instigators of the Wushe rebellion, had no option under Japanese colonial rule but to prove their “loyalty” by joining the Takasago Volunteer Force of the Japanese army, in whose service they died in some far-off land.
Among the souls of the war dead who are honored at the Yasukuni Shrine are Japanese soldiers who were killed by our tribesmen. The souls of my uncle and my mother’s first husband could not possibly wish to be honored in the same place as those enemies. Therefore we, their descendents, wish to see their souls brought back to their homeland.
In visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, Prime Minister Koizumi is treating our relatives as murderous invaders of other countries. It is a great insult to our relatives. Therefore, I strongly oppose Prime Minister Koizumi’s visit to the shrine.
Statement by Wu Musong (Bunun tribe)
According to the traditions of our people, the dead are buried under our homes, so that the souls of the dead can be with their families forever.
To take the souls of the dead Takasago Volunteers without the permission of their families and place them in the Yasukuni Shrine is tantamount to kidnapping the souls of the dead.
“Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you.” While the Japanese government strongly protests against abductions of Japanese people by North Korea, it should not for its part kidnap the souls of our fellow tribesmen, the Takasago Volunteers, and keep them in the Yasukuni Shrine, and still less should Prime Minister Koizumi offer them his hypocritical remembrance.
Statement by May Chin (Gao-Jin Sumei) (Atayal tribe)
The Takasago Volunteers took part in the Pacific War only because of brainwashing under Japanese colonial rule, by which they were forced to forget the history of their own people.
During our sojourn on the island of Taiwan, our people have been subjected to the rule of foreign invaders including the Dutch, Portuguese, Qing (Manchus) and Japanese. In the recent past, they were forced to fight in the Pacific War, invading the lands of people who had no enmity with us. Following their deaths in the war, they have been placed in the Yasukuni Shrine to be revered along with the Japanese invaders. This is a great insult to our war dead. Therefore, we resolutely demand that the souls of our fellow tribesmen be returned to us, and we oppose Prime Minister Koizumi’s participation in remembrance ceremonies at the Yasukuni Shrine.[/quote]
Massacre following the Wushe Rebellion
The Wushe Incident, Nantou County, Taiwan, 1930