Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday vowed to overturn a linguistic injustice to revive the Hakka language through a series of policy proposals, such as making Hakka a language of instruction at schools in predominantly Hakka communities.
“Due to a past policy of language repression [during the Martial Law era], many Hakka people, such as myself, are no longer able to speak Hakka. I believe many of your children or grandchildren are not able to speak Hakka fluently either,” Tsai told a crowd of more than 1,000 people, mostly Hakka, during a rally in Miaoli County. “I have said that one of my major policy objectives is to bestow transitional justice on society, and reviving Hakka is part of that objective to realize justice in language use.”
She said she would try to revive Hakka through creating a Hakka-friendly environment, including establishing schools, from kindergarten to elementary, in which the language of instruction would be Hakka in predominantly Hakka regions.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Tsai said the DPP is the only party that truly cares about Hakka culture.
“When the DPP was in power [from 2000 to 2008], we created the Hakka Affairs Council and Hakka TV,” Tsai said, adding that, if elected, she would increase the budget for Hakka TV, so it can produce more programs that appeal to both Hakka and non-Hakka audiences.
“If you go to [sections of] Provincial Highway No. 3 in Taoyuan, and Hsinchu and Miaoli counties that runs through Hakka communities, you would find abundant and diverse historic, cultural, artistic and agricultural resources,” Tsai said. “I often wonder why, when foreign tourists come to Taiwan, they often go to Taipei and then to the south or to the east, without visiting Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli counties. This is why I would like to make Provincial Highway No. 3 Taiwan’s own ‘Hakka Romantic Road’ to attract more visitors.”
While Hakka people, especially those in Miaoli, are generally considered pan-blue supporters, there was a surprising number of attendants from Hakka communities in Miaoli County, including traditional Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) grassroots campaigners, such as councilors, township mayors, Farmers’ Association officials, and borough and village wardens.
“When I speak to people during my campaign, I feel people’s desire for change, and the nation’s development can only happen through change,” Tsai said when asked if she was attempting to connect with KMT campaigners.
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
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
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
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires