Kawlo Iyun Pacidal (; born 9 April 1977 in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

) is a Taiwanese politician and former TV presenter. In January 2016 she was elected to serve in the Legislative Yuan as an at-large legislator on the party list of the

New Power Party The New Power Party (NPP) is a political party in Taiwan formed in early 2015. The party emerged from the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, and advocates for universal human rights, civil and political liberties, as well as Taiwan independenc ...

. Kawlo is a member of the Amis tribe of Taiwan's

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

and the cousin of singer

Ilid Kaolo Ilid Kaolo () (formerly ) is an indigenous Taiwanese singer-songwriter of Amis descent. She won the Best New Artist, Best Aboriginal Singer, and Best Indigenous Album at the 23rd Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan with her debut album, ''My Carefree L ...

Political career

Kawlo was a founding member of the Amis Defense Alliance, an organisation dedicated to opposing excessive construction on Taiwan's east coast. Kawlo's first electoral experience was in standing for the

Hualien County Council The Hualien County Council (HLCC; ) is the elected county council of Hualien County Hualien County ( Mandarin Wade–Giles: Hua¹-lien² Hsien⁴; Pīnyīn: ''Huālián Xiàn''; Hokkien POJ: ''Hoa-lian-koān'' or ''Hoa-liân-koān''; Hakk ...

as an independent in 2014. She was a candidate in the 6th electoral district (which includes Fenglin, Shoufeng, Guangfu, Fengbin, and Wanrong), and fell 223 votes short of winning a seat. In 2015 Kawlo joined the newly created

(NPP) and was subsequently placed first on their party list for the 2016 Legislative Yuan election. As the NPP polled 6.1% of the vote in the party list ballot, she was duly elected as one of the NPP's two at-large legislators. Kawlo's political positions include pushing for recognition of the independence of Aboriginal tribes and acknowledgment of sovereignty over traditional tribal lands, as well as full enforcement of the Indigenous Basic Act. Upon taking office, Kawlo was assigned to the Education and Culture Committee. In July 2019,

Green Party Taiwan Green Party Taiwan is a political party in Taiwan established on 25 January 1996. Although the party is sympathetic to Taiwan nationalism and shares a number of centre-left positions with the Pan-Green Coalition, the party emphasizes campaign ...

accused Kawlo of securing government subsidies for non-government organizations founded by her former legislative assistant Chen Shih-chang and run by Chen Shih-chang's successor Chen En-tse. Subsequently, the New Power Party voted to suspend Kawlo's membership. Kawlo responded to the allegations by dismissing her legislative staff, and commencing an investigation into the case. The New Power Party's decision to revoke Kawlo's membership was upheld by an arbitration committee on 3 September 2019. Kawlo ran in the

2020 Taiwanese legislative election The 2020 Taiwanese legislative election was held on 11 January 2020 for all 113 seats to the Legislative Yuan concurrently with the 15th presidential election in Taiwan. The term of the Legislative Yuan began on 1 February 2020. The Democratic ...

for a seat in the multimember

Lowland Aborigine Constituency The Lowland Aborigine constituency () is a multi-member constituency of the Legislative Yuan. Taiwanese indigenous people have elected representatives to reserved legislative seats since the 1970s. Predecessors to both the Lowland and Highland Abo ...

on behalf of the , but was not elected.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pacidal, Kawlo Iyun 1977 births Living people Amis people Members of the 9th Legislative Yuan New Power Party Members of the Legislative Yuan 21st-century Taiwanese women politicians Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan Taiwanese politicians of indigenous descent