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Editorial: The long and the short of it

It can be dispiriting to get too hooked up in the minutiae of political skulduggery and the mire of cross-strait shadow theater, so here's a curious story that might give readers a little boost. The boost comes from the knowledge that despite all of the administrative and political challenges facing Taiwan, low-level processes can and do function democratically and respectfully and can deliver results for the average person and community.

Kuangfu Township (光復) lies in the Hualien-Taitung valley, roughly in the middle of Hualien County, and is famous for its Amis Aboriginal community, Tabalong, one of the largest on the east coast.

A few months ago, the Directorate General of Highways decided that road signs referring to the Tabalong community should be updated to better approximate the sound of this Amis word, which means "white crab." But this progressive and respectful motive had a controversial result: the change in Chinese from Taibalang (太巴塱) to Dabalang (大巴塱) encouraged speakers of Hoklo (more commonly known as Taiwanese) to read the signs backward -- or forward, depending on your vintage -- as "huge penis."

This naturally dissatisfied a number of locals, and media reports indicated that the women in the area were particularly concerned (even if it is still not clear why only the women of the township should find an accidental reference to male genitalia troublesome, or indeed that women should necessarily find this troubling at all).

It is also true that some locals preferred the new Chinese version because of its more accurate rendition of the Amis pronunciation.

Nonetheless, a critical mass of community dissatisfaction brought a slew of Hualien County officials and agencies together in April. But they were unable to agree on a resolution.

After further consultation with residents and discussions with the national road authority, however, it was decided that the original name, Taibalang, would be retained.

And so, on Thursday last week, the amendment was duly made, and motorists have been left with one less amusing sight as they travel to and from Kuangfu and the east coast, and the residents of Tabalong can sleep easier knowing that they are less likely to be made fun of by travelers or in the mass media.

Regardless of the outcome, long gone are the days when a former president such as Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) could walk into an Ilan Aboriginal community and order that the name of a village be changed more or less on the spot, regardless of local sentiment, because of a perceived indignity or inauspiciousness in the traditional pronunciation. Or when the villages of an Aboriginal township -- Sanmin (三民) in Kaohsiung County -- could be named after the Three Principles of the People at the expense of far more beautiful names.

Even with the renaming of Taipei's Ketagelan Boulevard from Jieshou ("Long live Chiang Kai-shek") Road, which pointed to a nativization process and recognition of extinct and surviving Aboriginal culture, there were actually no "locals" involved -- just ideologues of various hues.

The experience of Kuangfu Township, on the other hand, is a small but encouraging reminder of what democracy means at the community level and how it can smoothly accommodate diverse local, ethnic and bureaucratic interests. Let there be more of it.
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