The appointment of Lin Kwang-hua (
"It's manifestly a political gambit intended to court Hakka voters because Lin is of Hakka decent and has grassroots support after serving as Hsinchu County commissioner," said Ger Yeong-kuang (葛永光), a professor of political science at National Taiwan University.
While the Chen Shui-bian (
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
"The establishment of the Council of Hakka Affairs and the 24-hour Hakka television channel do help put the DPP-led government in a better light in the eyes of the Hakka population," Ger said.
"However, government policies such as using Hoklo-language questions in the national examination for civil servants and pushing for the birth of a new constitution really showcase its `Hoklo chauvinism' and turn the Hakka population off," Ger said.
Chiou Chwei-liang (邱垂亮), a Hakka native from Miaoli County and a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute of Southeast Asia Studies at Tamkang University, expressed the same opinion.
"Without doubt, Chen's support for Hakka culture has won general acceptance and applause from Hakka groups. However, I am still doubtful about Hakka votes for Chen in the next presidential election," he said.
As the next presidential election approaches, Chiou said that Chen has worked hard to carry out his promises by setting up Hakka television stations, establishing Hakka schools and promoting Hakka culture.
"However, we feel that Hakka people remain unmoved and that votes for Chen are still nowhere to be seen," he said.
Chiou said that Hakka people cherish the culture of the central plains in China and feel that they are a minority group just like many "New Taiwanese" mainlanders who arrived in Taiwan after the end of World War II.
"Because of their fear and enmity toward the majority of Hoklo people, the Hakka people prefer to align with the `New Taiwanese' and challenge the Hoklo people," Chiou said.
Echoing Chiou's view, Ger said that Hakka people are not the only ethnic group with that mentality.
"Mainlanders, for example, have a strong sense that the DPP is a party made up of Hoklo supremacists who regard mainlanders as either traitors or Beijing's cohorts," he said.
The party even relentlessly discriminated and humiliated its own cadre, Hsu Hsin-liang (
While a power struggle is one reason the party moved against Hsu, his policy of "boldly marching west" toward China also ran counter to the DPP's guiding principle of Taiwanese independence.
The views of Hsu, however, are the mainstream political belief among Hakka groups in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli.
In Hsinchu, where ethnic Hakka account for 85 percent of the population, local factions maintain a larger membership than any single political party.
Traditional and united, they tend to vote for the candidate they best identify with. As such, an endorsement by major clans is indispensable at election time.
Lacking the sufficient backing of local factions, the then 56-year-old Lin lost the 2001 county chief election to his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Cheng Yung-chin (
Lin's pro-independence tinge also ran against the mind-set of many Hakka people, who are pro-unification. His failure also had a lot to do with the support from the pan-blue alliance of the KMT, the People First Party (PFP) and the New Party.
"This explains why we see disunity among Hakka people, who are unable either to be assimilated into the general Taiwanese culture, accept the idea of Taiwanese independence or support the pan-green camp's candidates with a Hakka background," Chiou said. "This is also the main reason why Hakka people become diehard supporters of the pan-blue camp, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Lin was among the leading candidates to succeed the former chairman of the Cabinet's Council of Agriculture, Fan Chen-tsung (
Fan, who threw his weight behind Lin during the 2001 county chief election, had recommended Lin to the premier as a potential successor.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do