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.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS