Despite having cancer, 68-year-old Union of Education in Taiwan chairperson Cheng Cheng-iok (鄭正煜) said he would continue urging the Ministry of Education to keep mandatory local language courses for the upcoming junior-high school year.
Born in 1946 in Cieding (茄萣) in what is now Greater Kaohsiung, Cheng became a junior-high school teacher after graduating from Chinese Culture University’s history department.
“I felt first-hand how education under the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] was greatly oppressing the local culture,” Cheng said in a recent interview, adding that it was this realization that made him dedicate himself to pro-localization movements in 1986, after he turned 40.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
However, Cheng’s first contact with the dangwai (黨外, or “outside the party”) opposition movement was in 1977, when Yang Ching-chu (楊青矗), a novelist known for stories that portrayed the lives of workers, ran for legislator.
Since that year, Cheng said he has worked in every election there has been, including the former post of national representative, legislators and even as part of the team working for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) during the nation’s first direct presidential election in 1996.
Due to his long-time affiliation with the dangwai, Cheng was been embroiled in the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979. Also known as the Formosa Incident, it began as a mass demonstration organized by Formosa Magazine for International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, 1979, in Kaohsiung that ended in violent clashes between demonstrators and police. After clashes that day, the government pursued opposition leaders and charged them with sedition.
Although Cheng was not jailed over the Kaohsiung Incident, he was put under surveillance, with police visiting his home every month.
Cheng said the visits continued until former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) took office, adding that during this time he owed much to friends, as he had been informed three time that he was being fired from his job.
Despite others using the comment “Male Taiwanese crabs have no cream” (台灣蟳無膏) in jest, alluding to what is considered a lack of Taiwanese culture, Cheng said that such views are wrong.
“The chefs, thugs and the temple ceremonial formations are what form the ‘common’ culture, but Taiwanese still have much to boast about from their ‘elegant’ side,” Cheng said, mentioning musician Chen Su-ti (陳泗治) and former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) as representatives of what he considers elegant Taiwanese culture.
However, Cheng said that these culturally rich people are being sidelined, which serves as an impetus for him to try to rebuild the depth of Taiwanese culture under the nation’s democracy.
“We are calling on the Ministry of Education to list local languages as a mandatory course for junior-high school students to learn the language of their own culture,” Cheng said.
Cheng has written more than 1,500 short stories that are set in Greater Kaohsiung, mainly around Cieding (茄萣), Cishan (旗山) and Zuoying (左營) districts.
“You can only be proud of your culture when you understand the environment around you and the little stories that are passed from generation to generation,” Cheng said.
Cheng used the example of an Aboriginal taxi driver to demonstrate his point. Cheng said he once rode a taxi driven by an Aboriginal man and learned that the driver felt inferior because his family had traditional ear piercings.
“The practice stemmed from the story of an Aboriginal warrior who had brought back foxtail millet seeds in his ear holes during a flood and saved the lives of his tribe,” Cheng said. “One must understand their own history to be dignified.”
Despite being diagnosed with three types of cancer, Cheng said he is optimistic about his condition.
“I hope to be smiling when the time comes,” Cheng said, adding that since he is a follower of Buddhism, he views life to be as light as a gust of wind blowing by or a flower petal dropping to the earth.
Cheng said he taught his children not to feel sadness when he dies, as it is a natural occurrence.
“Taiwan is part of my life and I never regret my dedication to the nation,” Cheng said, adding that he feels honored to have met with friends’ respect and thanks, and considers himself to have led a full life.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS