Panai Kusui

Panai Kusui (Chinese: 巴奈·庫穗; pinyin: Bānài Kùsuì; Chinese name: Chinese: 柯美黛; pinyin: Kē Měidài; born 1969) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and social activist.^[1] Her parents are of the Puyuma and Amis tribes of southeastern Taiwan.

Debut

Panai's first album "ni-wa-wa" was released in 2000 and received an award as one of the top 10 albums of the year by the China Times.^[2]

Activism

Panai supported Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen in the 2016 Taiwanese presidential election campaign, voicing her support for Tsai, whose grandmother was Paiwan. Panai sang aboriginal songs at Tsai's campaign rallies and post-election victory events, including Tsai's investiture.^[3] Panai, at these events, voiced the need of formal apologies to aboriginal peoples for past abuses. Elected president, Tsai fulfilled these requests and presented formal apologies to aboriginal populations.^[3]

In February 2017,

Presidential Office Building, but was moved out 100 days later, installing herself near a metro entrance, and after 600 (January 2019) had to move again to a nearby park.^[3] As of early 2020, Panai and her husband are still protesting there.^[3]