When welcoming Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil to National Chengchi University (NCCU) on Monday last week, university president Kuo Ming-cheng’s (郭明政) controversial remarks not only hurt Aborigines, but also trampled on the dignity of Taiwanese identity.
A similar incident occurred earlier when radio host Luo Hsiao-yun (羅小雲), then chairwoman of the Golden Bell Awards’ panel of judges, loudly made “hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh” sounds when announcing that Alian Radio (原住民族廣播電台) was nominated for an award, and actually asked Aborigines in the audience: “Shouldn’t you be making this sound?”
It was the kind of “joke” that leaves people speechless.
Kuo said that “400 years ago, Taiwan was a primitive society where people did not have sufficient clothes to cover their bodies,” implying that prehistoric Aboriginal cultures, such as the Austronesian culture, were ignorant and backward.
This expression of Han (漢) superiority is even more harmful to Aborigines.
I am not an Aborigine, but I find it unacceptable that at a time when Vystrcil said “I am Taiwanese” in Mandarin during his speech at the Legislative Yuan, Kuo kept bragging about the feudal ideas of Chinese philosophers Confucius (孔子) and Mencius (孟子), adding that NCCU sees itself as the heir to the Chinese culture, highlighting the arrogance of Greater China chauvinism.
Taiwan has always been home to a culturally diverse society, and the Aborigines were the original masters of this land. Chinese culture is thus only part of Taiwanese culture, because throughout history, Taiwan has also undergone Western and Japanese colonial rule and other cultural exchanges.
By promoting the supremacy of Chinese culture, Kuo’s ideology is not much different from the past Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s Mandarin-only campaign, which imposed a cultural hegemony banned people from speaking local languages. Why is NCCU still haunted by the KMT’s spirit?
Ironically, while Vystrcil talked about democracy, freedom and Taiwan’s identity, the NCCU president lauded feudal thinking and Chinese hegemony.
Lai Yen-cheng is a graduate student at National Chiao Tung University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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