President lauds efforts in transitional justice for indigenous people

Taipei, July 19 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Wednesday that producing official documents in indigenous languages is an important step toward achieving transitional justice for the country's indigenous people.

"The most effective way to pass on a language is to use it frequently," Tsai said in a Facebook post, in which she shared a photo showing an official document published by Hualien County's Kuangfu Township office using the language of the indigenous Amis tribe.

She noted that under the Aboriginal Language Development Act that came into force in June, the languages of all 16 of the indigenous tribes in Taiwan are "national languages," and that local governments, schools and state-run enterprises in indigenous regions can choose to produce official documents in indigenous languages.

Today, local governments in Pingtung, Hualien, Taitung and Nantou counties have begun to issue official documents that are entirely or partially written in indigenous languages, she said.

The president stressed that using indigenous languages in official documents is a first for the country and represents an important step toward achieving transitional justice for the indigenous peoples.

She pledged that the government will continue to work hard to pay more attention to Taiwan's indigenous cultures.

(By Sophia Yeh and Y.F. Low) ENDITEM/J