On Aug. 25, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) published an article that I had written, which was subsequently translated into English and published in the Taipei Times (“PTS Hoklo channel’s fate still uncertain,” Aug. 31, page 8).
The previous day, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) commented on the topic on his Facebook page, which he called “New Hero Story” (新勇哥物語).
However, apart from the proposed Hoklo channel, there is also concern about the teaching of Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese).
NO HOKLO CLASSES?
According to news reports, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 4 said that if he is elected, elementary schools would no longer provide classes in children’s mother tongues, but only in Chinese and English, because Kaohsiung needs to become more internationalized.
This means that classes that teach Aboriginal languages, Hoklo and other mother tongues in elementary schools would all be suspended.
Setting aside the question of whether Han’s policy proposal is reasonable, if he is elected and puts his “de-Hokloization” policy into practice, would the Ministry of Education have any legal basis for intervening?
In the case of Hakka and Aboriginal languages, at least the Hakka Basic Act (客家基本法) and the Indigenous Languages Development Act (住民族語言發展法原) provide a legal basis for protecting them, and the Hakka Affairs Council and the Council of Indigenous Peoples would be ready to argue against Han’s policy, but what about Hoklo?
What legal basis is there for protecting it? What government agency is responsible for it? The Ministry of Education? Or would it fall under the National Languages Development Division, which is being set up under the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Humanities and Publications and is to be responsible for handling the draft national languages development act?
The KMT has a history of marginalizing Hoklo. After the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) became president, his administration axed the plan to set up a Hoklo TV channel.
In 2009, when former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) was a legislator, she proposed scrapping the Ministry of Education’s NT$40 million (US$1.3 million) budget for Hoklo proficiency tests.
In response, a group of people who care about the Hoklo language came forward to protect the official proficiency tests, while denouncing Hung’s policy.
They took it a step further by raising funds and establishing the General Taiwanese Proficiency Test. They commissioned National Cheng Kung University’s Center for Taiwanese Language Testing, under the directorship of professor Taifallo Chiung (蔣為文), to set and hold the test twice a year.
Of course, the best strategy is to speed up the enactment of the national languages development act. Meanwhile, voters should exercise their wisdom.
POLITICAL TOOL
Even if candidates use Hoklo to win sympathy and support before elections, once they are elected, they can immediately renege on whatever they promised. Ma’s record is proof of this.
As for a candidate like Han, who is so hostile to Hoklo, Taiwanese should let him know not to push things too far, and they must not allow candidates who identify with China to show such disdain for Taiwan’s native languages.
Koeh Ian-lim is vice chairman of the Taiwan Teachers’ Union.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry