HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kolas Yotaka (; born 17 March 1974), formerly Yeh Guan-lin (), is an Amis Taiwanese politician and journalist. Since 2020, she has served as spokesperson for the Office of the President under
Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician serving as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2016. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai is the first female president of Taiwan. She served as ...
. Kolas previously served as spokesperson for the Executive Yuan in 2018, the first
Taiwanese aboriginal Taiwanese indigenous peoples (formerly Taiwanese aborigines), also known as Formosan people, Austronesian Taiwanese, Yuanzhumin or Gaoshan people, are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, with the nationally recognized subgroups numbering about ...
to hold the position. As a journalist, Kolas has worked as a reporter for
Formosa Television Formosa Television () is a television station based in New Taipei, Taiwan. Established on March 27, 1996, FTV began broadcasting on June 11, 1997. Formosa Television is also the first free-to-air television station which was established witho ...
 and as a news anchor for the
Taiwan Indigenous Television The Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV; ) is a satellite cable channel in Taiwan devoted to indigenous issues and culture, launched on July 1, 2005, becoming the first such channel in Asia. In January 2007, TITV joined the operation of Taiwan ...
. Kolas went on to become the director for the Aboriginal People's Administration of the
Taoyuan City Government The Taoyuan City Government (TYCG; ) is the municipal government of Taoyuan, Taiwan. History Originally established as Taoyuan County, the county was upgraded to Taoyuan City on 25 December 2014. Organization * Department of Civil Affairs * De ...
. In 2016, she was elected as a non-divisional legislator and an aboriginal affairs representative of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). In 2017, she was elected as a visiting scholar of the
US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...
's International Leadership Program.


Name

The Pangcah people (aka
Amis people The Amis ( ami, Amis, Ami, Pangcah; ), also known as the Pangcah, are an indigenous Austronesian ethnic group native to Taiwan. They speak the Amis language (; ), an Austronesian language, and are one of the sixteen officially recognized Ta ...
) use
patronymics A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
or matronymics. Kolas' grandfather received the Japanese name Yoshinari during Japanese rule, and her father followed the tribal system with the name Yoshinari Yutaka (吉成豐). The family was assigned the Yo sound as the Chinese surname Yeh (葉) by the KMT government after Japanese rule ended. Kolas followed the system by using her father's given name as her second name, and thus got the name Kolas Yotaka.  She changed her legal name on her
household registration Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differ ...
to her indigenous name around 2005–2006, after new legislation made it possible for indigenous people to do so. She uses the romanized Kolas Yotaka rather than the Chinese phonetic translation ().


Early life

She was born in
Hsinchu City Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...
and belongs to the Amis Harawan tribe of Yuli, Hualien. She obtained her bachelor's and master's degree in sociology from
Tunghai University Tunghai University (THU; ) is the oldest private university in Taiwan, established in 1955. It was founded by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA). It is located in Xitun District, Taichung, Taiwan. According to ''Ti ...
in 1996 and 1999, respectively. 


Journalism career

After completing her studies, she worked as a program producer and reporter on PTS and FTV. She also worked at weekly business magazine, Harvard Business Review and other magazines, as well as CNN Interactive English. She translated the book ''Routes: Travel and Translation the Late in Twentieth Century'' by anthropologist and historian James Clifford to Chinese. From 2005 to 2013, she served as the assistant, producer and anchor at Taiwan Indigenous Television. She also served as the interview leader and the anchor for the English news. She was responsible for logistics, special planning, documentary filming and international news interviews. In 2007, while she was a producer and anchor of "Indigenous Peoples Evening News," the show received an Excellence in Journalism award. It was also nominated for the award in 2008 and 2011. In 2014, she began producing and hosting the weekly international news program "Mata! See the World". She also produced 14 documentaries on indigenous activism. This series is called "Indigenous Movements". Several of her documentaries were nominated for and received a range of awards. "Wounds of Sami" was nominated for the 2012 Award for Excellence in Journalism, "The Death of Wufeng" won the silver at the 2013 Nepal International Aboriginal Film Festival, and "Fight for the Island-Punsu No Tao" was nominated for the 2014 International Uranium Film Festival in
Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...
.


Political career

Kolas served as the director of the Aboriginal National Administrative Bureau of the Taoyuan City Government, the
Ninth Legislative Yuan The 9th Legislative Yuan is a session of the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan, from 1 February 2016 to 31 January 2020. Members were elected in the 16 January 2016 legislative election. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party control the Legislat ...
(representing the Democratic Progressive Party), and spokesperson for the Executive Yuan.


Aboriginal National Administrative Bureau of the Taoyuan City Government

At the end of 2014,
Cheng Wen-tsan Cheng Wen-tsan (; born 6 July 1967) is a Taiwanese politician. He is the first and incumbent Mayor of the newly established Taoyuan City, having served since 25 December 2014. Education Cheng received his bachelor's degree from the Department of ...
, then mayor of Taoyuan City, appointed her as the first female director of the Aboriginal Administration of the Taoyuan City Government; and revised the name of the institution which has been used for 14 years to “Indigenous Peoples Administration Bureau”. It took effect on March 11, 2015 and required the name card to include aboriginal scripts.


Legislative Yuan

In the 2016 general election, Kolas was elected as a legislator under the DPP. The Citizens Congress Watch rated her as an outstanding legislator in the Third Session. Sometimes she writes her legislative reports in
Amis language Amis ( or ) is a Formosan language of the Amis (or Ami), an indigenous people living along the east coast of Taiwan. Currently the largest of the Formosan languages, it is spoken from Hualien in the north to Taitung in the south, with another ...
. On the eve of
International Mother Language Day International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism. First announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999, it was formal ...
 in 2016, Kolas promoted “mother language justice”, and proposed amendments to the “Names Regulations” and “Public Officials' Choice of Law”. It suggested that the name of the National Identity Card of the Republic of China can be used without Chinese characters, so other writing systems (such as tribal language orthography) can to used to register the name. It is possible to include both aboriginal languages and Chinese documents together on the election gazette. In mid-December of the same year, the draft Act on the Development of the Languages of Indigenous Peoples was proposed. In May 2016, Kolas,
Chen Chi-mai Chen Chi-mai (; born December 23, 1964) is a Taiwanese politician and the current Mayor of Kaoshiung since August 24, 2020. He has served as spokesperson of the Democratic Progressive Party and the chief executive officer of its Policy Research ...
, and 17 other legislators proposed a bill to abolish the
Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) was a ministry-level commission of the Executive Yuan in the Republic of China. It was disbanded on 15 September 2017. History The first model was created during the Qing dynasty in 1636 ...
. On 20 May 2016, 18 legislators including Kolas and Chen Qimai proposed the Draft Amendment to Article 16 of the Immigration and Immigration Law, which was passed on November 1, 2016. On 5 September 2016, Kolas visited the Tibetan spiritual leader
Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...
in Dharamsala, India. She was the first Taiwanese aboriginal legislator to meet with the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama was very interested in the Amis sash on Kolas. He said that President Tsai Ing-wen's apology to the aborigines was "very good, it is a trend". On the following day, the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan held their first press conference in Dharamsala. On 15 February 2017, Kolas accompanied a Taiwanese-Tibetan family to the Executive Yuan to submit a request; on the 20th of the same month, the Ministry of the Interior's Immigration Department abolished the principle of "collective review of the application for residence of Tibetan spouses holding Indian travel permits" and established  “following the Nationality and Immigration Act, Article 16, Item 4, Tibetan residents who have changed their nationality and hold Indian travel permit can apply for stay in Taiwan”. On 23 April 2017, the Ministry of the Interior, at the request of the Kolas, canceled the ceremony of the
Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor The Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor () is the alleged burial site of the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) of China. It is located in Huangling County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, China. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor attained immort ...
, and the Central Government would no longer sent representatives of the Ministry to attend the
Zheng Chenggong Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...
 Festival, breaking the 54-year political convention and reflecting Taiwan's change in attitude to identity and multiculturalism. On 17 June 2018, Kolas was invited by the Hawaiki Project (an Indigenous social initiative) to seek funding from the
Council of Indigenous Peoples The Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP; ), formerly known as the Council of Aboriginal Affairs, is a ministry-level body under the Executive Yuan in Taiwan (Republic of China). It was established to serve the needs of the country's indigenous ...
to allow New Zealand Māori children to come to Taiwan on 23 August 2018 for a 10-day origin trip and participate in traditional tribal ceremonies; and at the same time plan in mid-February 2019, allow Taiwanese aboriginal children go to New Zealand to experience Maori culture.


Executive Yuan spokesperson

Because of her August 2014 drunk driving record, she has expressed her willingness to serve as an anti-drunk driving volunteer for life.
KMT The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
members of the Legislative Yuan argued with the social consensus of the "zero tolerance" policy for Kolas to be dismissed. Ho Hsin-chun, the head of the Democratic Progressive Party Committee, believes that a person who admits their mistake should be given the opportunity. On 15 August 2018, when President Tsai Ing-wen passed through Los Angeles, she visited the local 85°C store. Therefore, 85 °C was bombarded by Chinese netizens as a “Taiwan independence enterprise”.  85 °C immediately issued a statement that they “Support the 1992 Consensus”. Kolas Yotaka said she "sympathize 85 °C very much" and also strongly condemns the use of self-righteous ideology in specific countries to suppress free markets and international companies. On 22 August 2018, the Ngāti Manu tribe of the Maori in New Zealand visited Taiwan for a cultural trace. After arriving in Taiwan, the traditional leader (rangatira) Arapeta Hamilton led the team to the Executive Yuan to thank spokesperson Kolas Yotaka, expressing their excitement in finding a link between Maori culture and Taiwanese aboriginal culture. On 20 September 2018, at the invitation of Queen Bilung Gloria Salii of the
Republic of Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...
, she participated in the "25th Anniversary Conference of the National Women's Conference" as the guest speaker. She was the first representative of the Taiwanese government to ever attend the conference.


Personal life

In 2007, she was in a relationship with politician
Icyang Parod Icyang Parod (; Chinese name: ; born 2 December 1960) is a Taiwanese Amis politician. He served as the Minister of the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2007 to 2008 and took office again in 2016. Education and activism Icyang was a lead ...
.  In March 2018, lawyer Jewel Chen implied online that Kolas was cohabiting with politician
Icyang Parod Icyang Parod (; Chinese name: ; born 2 December 1960) is a Taiwanese Amis politician. He served as the Minister of the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) from 2007 to 2008 and took office again in 2016. Education and activism Icyang was a lead ...
, so Kolas sued her for defamation. On October 3, 2018, the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office pointed out that since representation of the electorate is elected by the public, the handling of public affairs, whether private or honest, will affect the purity and credit of the public office, so it must be criticized by the outside world. Even if there is a need for private inspection, it should be publicly available. In this matter, since it was implied, the lawsuit was dropped. On 6 October 2018, Kolas requested assistance from the Legal Aid Foundation with lawsuit. This action was subsequently criticized as a misuse of Legal Aid resources.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yotaka, Kolas 1974 births Living people Tunghai University alumni Members of the 9th Legislative Yuan Democratic Progressive Party Members of the Legislative Yuan Amis people Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Hsinchu Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan Taiwanese politicians of indigenous descent 21st-century Taiwanese women politicians