With regard to the recent controversy surrounding the "President Pig," President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), a native son of Taiwan as well as the son of a Hakka family, announced at the Yimin Temple in Hsinchu that Hakka people have sacrificed divine pigs for more than 100 years and that no other group can tarnish the Hakka tradition.
Chen also pointed out that anyone can make comments about him, but no one can insult and defame "our Hakka culture."
Chen's divine pig not only offended many "politically correct" groups but also gave the pan-blue camp a chance to severely criticize Chen. Without doubt, Chen's support for Hakka culture this time won general acceptance and applause from Hakka groups. However, I am still doubtful about Hakka votes for Chen in the next presidential election.
As a Hakka from Miaoli, I strongly support and promote democratization in Taiwan. Therefore, I actively participate in and support tang wai ("outside the party," 黨外) activities as well as those DPP activities that challenge the KMT.
Chen's electoral victory in 2000 leading to a political transition and DPP takeover is the most unforgettable, proudest event in history and in our lifetime. However, many Hakka votes in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli poured in to the pan-blue camp that advocates unification. The Hakka people's pessimistic, resistant attitude toward Chen, the pan-green camp, and local Taiwanese consciousness makes us deeply concerned at heart and puzzled.
As the next presidential election approaches, Chen has worked hard to carry out his promises by setting up Hakka television stations, establishing Hakka schools, and promoting the Hakka culture. However, we feel that the Hakka people have remained unmoved and that votes for Chen are still nowhere to be unseen.
For one thing, Hakka people are conservative and tough-minded people who value loyalty and virtue. They also cherish the culture of the central plains in China. Like many "New Taiwanese" mainlanders who arrived in Taiwan around the end of the World War II, the Hakka people are a minority group in Taiwan and feel that they are sojourners.
Second, because of their fear and enmity toward the majority of Hoklo people, the Hakka people are willing to align with the "New Taiwanese" and challenge the Hoklo people.
Many Hakka people think that the DPP is a party for the Hoklo people, because DPP officials always use the Hoklo language in their activities. Because they do not understand the Hoklo language, many Hakka people -- particularly those in Miaoli -- feel that they are treated with indifference and discrimination. As a result, they find it difficult to be assimilated into the local culture.
Of course, this view is not entirely true. Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), Chang Teh-ming (張德銘) and Chiou Lien-hui (邱連輝) are the founding fathers of the DPP.
Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), Fan Chen-tsung (范振宗) and Lin Kuang-hua (林光華) later joined the DPP.
The DPP also has a lot of support from renowned Hakka writers such as Chung Chao-cheng (鍾肇政) and Lee Chiao (李喬).
However, since the DPP's establishment 17 years ago, it is clear that most Hakka people have not accepted, supported or participated in the DPP all along.
First, power contention is one reason why Hsu left the DPP. Second, his policy of moving westward to China runs counter to the DPP's guiding principle of Taiwanese independence.
The views of Hsu, Fan and Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), who reject the ideas of Taiwanese consciousness and independence, are the mainstream political beliefs among Hakka groups in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli.
Many Hakka people in Taiwan are not willing to face and admit to this mind-set tied to unification, but there is no doubt that their mindset has a profound impact on the workings of politics and society.
This explains why we see disunity among Hakka people, who are unable to be assimilated into the general Taiwanese culture, accept the idea of Taiwanese independence or support the pan-green camp's candidates such as A-bian and Uncle A-hui (former president Lee Teng-hui, 李登輝) with a Hakka background.
This is the main reason why the Hakka people become the diehard supporters of Lien Chan (連戰), James Soong (宋楚瑜), and the pan-blue camp.
If they cannot break away from a few things -- their dream about the central plains; their "guest" mentality of always seeking refuge from calamities, their objection to the sovereignty of Taiwan; their failure to see that Taiwan has no future in an authoritarian China; and their failure to acknowledge China's military threats against Taiwan -- and if they cannot unite with the Hoklo people, who have a 70 percent majority in Taiwan's population, to build the gemeinschaft of destiny, take root in Taiwan and work hard for a democratic Taiwan, the Hakka people will forever be the sojourners excluded from the mainstream of Taiwan instead of becoming their own masters in the nation's democratic politics.
If so, it will be a tragedy for the Hakka people. I am proud to be a Hakka, and therefore I severely criticize the Hakka people in Taiwan.
Chiou Chwei-liang is a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute of Southeast Asia Studies, Tamkang University.
Translated by Grace Shaw
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