Tue, Aug 19, 2003 page2

• Hakka fest a well of votes

  SEEKING SUPPORT Political parties decended on a `Hokkienized Hakka' hoping to gain supporters for their candidates in next year's presidential election

  • By Debby Wu / STAFF REPORTER
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  With all parties and candidates trying to gain the favor of different ethnic groups for the presidential election next year, experts participating in yesterday's seminar on ``Hokkienized Hakka'' people (福佬客) also called for respect for different cultures.

  The Council for Hakka Affairs held a seminar to discuss the existence and future of the Hokkienized Hakka people yesterday. Hokkienized Hakka people are those in Taiwan who are originally Hakka people, but have been greatly influenced by Hokkien culture and assimilated to some degree. The seminar is a part of the 2003 Hokkienized Hakka Cultural Festival.

  "The Hokkienized Hakka demonstrates Hokkien culture externally, but preserves Hakka culture internally. It is a result of the development of Taiwan's pluralism. It is important that all ethnic groups can live and prosper together," said Leo Y. P. Liu (劉永斌), the council's vice chairman.

  Lai Chih-chang (賴志彰), an associate professor at Fujen University, said that there were many Hokkienized Hakka in Changhua.

  "Although they are indeed Hakka people coming from Guangdong, many cannot speak the language, and do not necessarily identify themselves as Hakka. But they develop a special culture of their own."

  On the other hand, Hu Tai-li (胡台麗), a researcher at the Academia Sinica Institute of Ethnology, reflected that perhaps it was not necessarily the intention of the movement to force everyone to identify with a certain ethnic group.

  "There is a group of people in Taiwan that is difficult to be classified into any ethnic group. They may have relationships with many different groups, and sometimes they would identify with one today, and another tomorrow. To force them into making a choice may result in a negative response," said Hu.

  PFP Legislator Lee Yung-ping (李永萍) also pointed out that under democracy everyone should have the right to choose where their identity lies, and the choices should be respected.

  "Identification should be a choice instead of given at birth. A lot of time cultural identification is a strategy for power and survival, and democracy implies that no choice should be discriminated against," said Lee.

  Liu also echoed Lee's claim by using the renowned writer Lee Chiao (李喬) as an example. He said that although Lee was a Hokkien, he grew up in a Hakka village and later decided to identify himself as a Hakka person, and wrote the Hakka masterpiece, A Bitter Cold Night.

  Sun Ta-chuan (孫大川), the head of the Tunghua University Graduate Institute of Indigenous Development, said that when it came to ethnic identification, the social context that made the identification has to be respected too.

  "Every generation has got its direction. If we do not take the social context into consideration, and impose an identification on the others, it still shows our lack of respect. You simply cannot demand an elderly mainland Chinese person living in Taiwan to identify with Taiwanese easily. It would not be respectful toward his or her culture," Sun said.

  "It is important that we should try to respect the differences between the ethnic groups, and try to build up some common traits. it would be too extreme as well if we only pursue divergence," Sun said.
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