Facing public outcry over reports of government measures that would force aboriginal tribes to move from their homes, Premier Wu Den-yih said Monday that there was no such policy. 'The government respects the choices of the victims' of massive flooding triggered by Typhoon Morakot last August, Wu said. Wu's comments followed a China Times report on Monday that said the Indigenous Peoples Action Coalition of Taiwan (IPACT) accused the government of 'cutting off aboriginals' links with the land.' The government's post-Morakot reconstruction projects involve relocating people from locations destroyed by flooding if scholars, experts and tribal leaders define the places as 'dangerous areas.' Wu mentioned new homes that were built for victims from Kaohsiung County's Jiasian Township and Pingtung County's Changjhih Township, saying the residents 'had a free choice and moved of their own volition.' There are also settlement programs for people living in the areas that were classified by experts and scholars as vulnerable to natural disasters but not thought so by the locals, Wu added. He said that people residing in 'dangerous areas' are allowed to stay if they wish, but are obliged to relocate to a safer place whenever there is the threat of a typhoon, landslide or flooding. Wu added that 'if they choose to move to a safer place at any time in the next three years, the government will help them relocate.' The China Times report cited the IPACT as saying that in the past year, the government had initiated and implemented the relocation policy too hastily because it was eager for quick success and instant benefits. The civic group said it 'hurt the heart' that the government 'never tried to think from the viewpoint of the indigenous people when outlining the reconstruction policy.' Saying the only goal of the reconstruction policy was forcing the aboriginals to move away from their villages on mountains, the IPACT blasted the relocation measures as 'rude and crude' while pointing out that not all the flood-affected areas should be classified as 'dangerous areas.' The organization plans a protest rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in front the Presidential Office on Aug. 6-7, the report said. 