Hakka members of the Taiwan Society yesterday denounced Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Te-fu’s (林德福) “verbal violence,” after he on Monday asked Hakka Affairs Council Minister Lee Yung-te (李永得) not to speak Hakka at the Legislative Yuan.
Lee on Monday was to deliver the council’s policy report at the Internal Administration Committee at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei and opened with a greeting in Hakka.
However, Lin said Lee should not deliver his report in Hakka because “not everyone in the room had a translation device.”
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Committee convener Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) of the Democratic Progressive Party then asked Lee to deliver his report in Chinese, and Lee agreed.
At a news conference in Taipei yesterday, Taiwan Society Hakka founder and chairman Chang Yeh-shen (張葉森) accused Lin of oppressing Hakka, a language that is endangered, as if it were “a patient in the intensive care unit.”
Of Taipei’s 2 million residents, about 570,000 are of Hakka origin, but 79.3 percent of them cannot speak the language, Chang said.
Hakka people became marginalized after the KMT government in 1945 banned people from speaking their native language, he said, adding that the nation’s other languages also withered under the policy.
Hakka people have been campaigning for a revival of their language since the Return My Native Language demonstration on Dec. 28, 1988, National Taiwan University Institute of National Development professor Chiu Jung-chu (邱榮舉) said, adding that mutual respect has been the key to their campaigns during the past three decades.
People would rather believe that Lin was attempting to highlight the problem of language inequality with goodwill, he said, adding that otherwise they would stage a demonstration to protest against his “bullying.”
Different ethnic groups should learn to respect one another, especially when the Ministry of Culture is promoting a draft national languages development act (國家語言發展法), he said, adding that the government should cultivate more bilingual people and offer translation devices at meetings.
The bill is aimed at protecting languages and cultures that are at risk of extinction and to ensure speakers of different language groups can access their native language in education, mass media and public services, the ministry said in a news release on July 29.
The bill would not force schools to teach all existing languages, nor would public services be required to use all languages, the ministry added.
The bill has been sent to the Executive Yuan for review, Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said on Oct. 16.
It is one of the 72 priority bills in this legislative session.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it