Hakka virtues can be a source of inspiration for the next generation of Taiwanese in a cultural, spiritual and economic sense and will help further the nation’s development, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopeful Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Asked during a meeting with female Hakka supporters in Taipei whether she thought her performance in the televised session between the three DPP presidential hopefuls would boost her approval rating, Tsai said: “I do not see a cause-and-effect relationship here.”
“The primaries have entered the final stage … The primaries are necessary, but the campaign process has to remain rational and ensure unity and harmony,” she said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“Everybody recognizes how important it is for the party to maintain unity and I have to tell DPP members and supporters that it is normal for different opinions and competition to exist within the party, but the real challenge and test is how to keep united in the face of different opinions and strong competition — and the party has to go through the challenge,” she said.
Tsai told her Hakka supporters that since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) came to Taiwan after World War II, Hakka culture had made substantial contributions to the nation’s development.
Hakka literature had sustained the development of Taiwanese literature and Hakka women had demonstrated how to be responsible for their families.
“Not only did they take care of their families’ everyday lives, they also worked on the farm and made decisions on family matters,” she said.
Tsai said several Hakka beliefs were included in her campaign platform.
In the past, many people saw Hakka culture as part of Taiwan’s traditional culture, but actually Hakka culture could lead the continuing development of the nation’s cultural identity, she said.
Former Hakka Affairs Commission minister Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), who attended the meeting, said that in her opinion, Tsai was “the only” and “the best” presidential candidate.
Yeh said she saw in Tsai many of the same virtues as the Hakka women in attendance and that as a woman of Hakka decent, Tsai’s insistence, wisdom, calm and reason had led the party through darkness and back into the sunshine.
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