Chapter 5 The Process of Citizen Participation in the Qingquan Scenic Area
5.4 After the Opening of Chang Syue-Liang's Former Residence
5.4.2 The Vendors’ Protest from the Perspective of Citizen Participation
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
5.4.2 The Vendors’ Protest from the Perspective of Citizen Participation We can learn from the removal of street vendors that the township mayor thought that the development of a cultural shopping district could meet the interests of the majority of people within the village. He considered that a protest by street vendors could attract the attention of the Hsinchu County government. Therefore, taking into account the interests of the majority of the villagers, the street vendors were forced to sacrifice their interests.
The vendors, whose long-running stalls in the parking lot were suddenly declared illegal, were quite puzzled. The vendors had no objection to the cultural shopping district proposed by the township mayor, but they hoped that the plan could be subjected to communication with the public, so that the public could participate in making the decisions.
The different points of view of the officials and the public created the conflict.
This conflict had an impact on citizen participation in the Qingquan Area. In terms of citizen participation in the Qingquan Area, from the vendors’ protest we can conclude the following.
1. Aboriginal participation and consent rights are not implemented
The Qingquan Vendors’ Autonomous Management Committee expressed their views.
They believe that the Hsinchu County Government annexed the Qingquan Scenic Area without the consent of the indigenous people.
He said that the Qingquan Scenic Area regulations did not allow stalls to be set up. Then I would say, the Qingquan Scenic Area was designated 26 years ago by the county, but the county never did come to communicate and coordinate with the local residents.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Therefore, they broke the law before we did. (Interviewee R3)
Regarding the consent rights of indigenous people, two international declarations express that self-determination for indigenous peoples should be respected; those events that affect the vital interests of indigenous people, indigenous people should be allowed to understand; and aboriginal rights shall be changed only with aboriginal consent. According to Aboriginal Basic Law, Article 21, for government or private land in the aboriginal communities to be used in land development, resource utilization, environmental protection, or academic research, the indigenous peoples must give consent, and the indigenous peoples must be able to share in the profits.
The Aboriginal Basic Law, Article 22, also states that when establishing national parks, national scenic areas, forestry areas, conservation areas, recreational areas, and other resource management authorities on indigenous land, the government must seek the consent of local indigenous peoples and establish a common management mechanism with the indigenous peoples. Therefore, under the current regulations, the government, in developing plans for the Qingquan Scenic Area Project, should have first obtained the consent of the indigenous peoples.
However, the Hsinchu County Government issued and implemented the Qingquan Scenic Area in 1982. The Aboriginal Basic Law had not yet been passed in that year, so the process of planning the scenic area did not violate the Aboriginal Basic Law. The acquisition of the Qingquan Scenic Area was not illegal at the time, but we can view the Aboriginal Basic Law in terms of the participation of the aborigines. The Aboriginal Basic Law is intended to protect the basic rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Aboriginal Basic Law, Article 34, provides that the competent authority shall amend, develop, or repeal relevant laws within three years after implementation of the law. Even though four years have passed, the competent
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
authority still has not completed the aboriginal people's legal work. Due to a lack of implementation, the sub-laws and basic rights are still unprotected: in terms of survival, development, culture, and lands, the aborigines are still deprived of their rights.
2. Removal of the street vendors inspired the public to participate in public affairs.
Wu (2004) wrote that citizen participation is a part of the implementation of democratic politics, and it is beneficial to community members to enhance the quality of democracy. On the policy side, citizen participation helps the government to grant some communities certain policies, and effectively reduces the burden of government policies. For the members within the community, it can cultivate a sense of community and active participation in community affairs.
The scholars Philips & Long (1978) have proposed the following three conditions for community participation:
(1) The appropriate organization
In the past, most acts of community participation occurred through organizations (Qiu, 2003). In fact, well-structured community organizations will help to enhance the participation of residents in the community.
(2) To obtain benefits
When community members expect to obtain a certain "reward" after participating, they will actively participate. Therefore, the promise of possible benefits is also one of the ways to enhance community participation (Chen, 2000).
(3) Way of life threatened
Wiledon once used "crisis theory" to explain citizen participation. When an
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
actions to resolve the crisis (Wu, 1999). For citizen participation, the theory points out that when the community faces a number of crises, community members will be encouraged to actively participate in community activities to relieve the crisis.
The residents of Qingquan were less active participants in community public affairs because the removal of street vendors infringed on the rights of some of the residents. Then they began to actively participate in community affairs to obtain benefits. Although the vendors did not reach a final decision, and their demands were not met, from the perspective of citizen participation, it has been a good start for the residents.
3. It is difficult for residents to express personal interests under current urban planning regulations.
The Qingquan Vendors’ Autonomous Management Committee claimed that the Qingquan Scenic Area Project was illegal. In consideration of that claim, we review the literature and relevant regulations. According to Interpretation No. 148 from the Constitutional Court of the Republic of China, the implementation of urban planning is a government policy, so public authorities in the region do not have the right of consent and consideration. This is not an administrative sanction, so people cannot use it as the subject of administrative proceedings. Thus, we can see that if the residents express personal interests, in the absence of the Administrative Court, their opinions will play a very minor role.
4. Government administrators do not trust the people, which affects the citizen participation rights of the people.
In the case of the removal of the street vendors, opposition and suspicion between
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
government administrators and the public had a negative impact on citizen participation. The mayor mentioned in the interview was asked by some residents to convene a coordination meeting. He speculated that these people were members of different parties who might have wanted to use this issue to manipulate elections.
As far as I know, 80% of the villagers were in favor of my approach.
As for those who opposed me, I think some members of political parties were trying to highlight their ability to appear better than their opponents. I think it was an attempt to manipulate the election.
(Interviewee G3)
Because the township mayor did not communicate or coordinate with the villagers, and carried out the project willfully, some residents suspected that that township mayor wanted to earn benefits for a specific person. Moreover, some residents also believed that the political factions were involved in the township, dominating local affairs and public policy. The representatives of the people could not represent the views of the people, so they advocated citizen participation.
Since 2001, the government has actively promoted the development of indigenous communities. In 2004, the Executive Yuan set in the "Social Service Benefits Policy" the specification that all levels of government should encourage community residents to participate in community development. In this case study, the public required participation rights, but the mayor, questioning the right of the people to participate, appears to have compromised that right.