TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Members of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples protested against nuclear energy outside of the Presidential Office Building Saturday in preparation for a larger protest scheduled for Sunday, the eve of President Ma Ying-jeou’s fifth anniversary in power.

The Ma Administration is determined to hold a nationwide referendum by the end of the year about the fourth nuclear plant now nearing completion in Gongliao, New Taipei City. Critics say the vote is a waste of time since opinion polls show public opposition reaching levels of 70 percent and higher.

Organizers of Sunday’s protests expect tens of thousands of participants in the capital, reports said. On March 9, more than 200,000 people took part in marches and other events to mark the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Sunday comes just one day before May 20, when Ma will have ruled Taiwan for five years. It also marks the first anniversary of his inauguration for a second and final term. The past year has seen his public approval ratings hit record depths of 13 percent, with most recent polls only giving him 18 percent support and about 74 percent of disapproval.

The nuclear plant has been a key factor in Ma’s unpopularity, despite his claims that the two reactors in Gongliao will only start operating if safety is guaranteed. Even though the results of a current safety review is not expected until around October or November, Ma and his administration have been warning that without a working fourth plant, Taiwan could face power shortages and rising energy prices.

Indigenous activists lighted branches and leaves on the wide boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building Saturday as a warm-up for Sunday’s main event. The Tao people on Taitung’s Orchid Island have been living near the country’s main dump for low radioactive nuclear waste for decades, complaining of high levels of cancer and insufficient protection.

The government has promised to find other locations, but its efforts have partly been stymied by the fear that local referenda will prevent the opening of new dumps.

Protesters accused state utility Taiwan Power Corporation of trying to fool little educated locals about the purpose and reach of nuclear waste. The company had once told residents of Hsiulin in Hualien County that they were building tunnels nearby, but it had never revealed those were tests to set up a nuclear storage facility, protesters said.

Activists including former Vice President Annette Lu wanted a local referendum about Taipower’s plans to install fuel rods at one reactor next year, but the central government’s Referendum Review Committee rejected their application this week. The committee argued that nuclear energy was a national policy issue and therefore too important to be decided on a local level.

Critics of the government’s nuclear policies said they wanted a complete nuclear phase-out, a demand the opposition Democratic Progressive Party has said should be realized by 2025. The Ma Administration said that if the fourth plant was allowed to function, 2055 would be a more likely date to turn Taiwan into a nuclear-free country.

