Seminar tackles
ethnic issues
THORNY
DEBATE: Minority groups may find it tempting to stereotype
and point the finger at other groups, but scholars and lawmakers
believe reconciliation is possible
2001/12/26
By Lin Miao-Jung
STAFF REPORTER
Though ethnic issues in Taiwan are highly sensitive
and emotional, a seminar attended by scholars and lawmakers
yesterday shows that a rational and serious discussion on the
matter is possible.
While Taiwanese people are talking about ethnic reconciliation,
a high-ranking Hakka official said yesterday that reconciliation
must not come at the price of a minority group's culture.
"Minority ethnic groups can only accept equality, goodwill
and mutual respect, not ethnic integration," said Executive
Yuan Hakka Committee member Yang Chang-chen (楊長鎮).
For minority groups, ethnic integration (族群融合) implies their
complete absorption by an overwhelming majority.
In a bid to bridge gaps and promote rational dialogue between
ethnic groups, the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan (台灣促進和平基金會)
organized a seminar in which officials and scholars with different
ethnic origins took part.
The conference began with a skit in which Chinese, Hakka, Tai-wanese
Aborigines, foreigners, Hokklo people and foreign laborers pointed
their fingers at each other for promoting negative stereotypes
of various ethnic groups.
In the skit the mainland Chinese were stereoptyped as being
"hypocritical and cunning," Hakka people as "selfish
and stingy," the Hokklo people as "stupid and vulgar,"
while the Taiwanese Aborigines were portrayed as "lazy
and alcoholic."
As a Taiwanese Aborigine, outgoing DPP legislator Payen Talu
(巴燕達魯) complained that, for a long time, under whatever regime,
Taiwanese Aborigines have never gained respect or received enough
resources from the government.
"In our textbooks, there is not
a single word to illustrate the culture of Taiwanese Aborigines.
As a result of this, ethnic identity has become a serious problem
among Aborigines."
Payen Talu said the reason why he joined the DPP was because
he wanted to get involved in the process of Taiwan's democratization.
"I don't want the Aborigines to be absent in this process,"
Payen Talu said.
However, Payen Talu lost in the Dec.1 election and blamed his
defeat on the division of the Aborigines into subgroups, which
jeopardized the chances of stronger candidates getting elected.
"The Aborigines are pushed to the periphery in all fields
of Taiwanese society," Payen Talu said.
Yang said that the Mandarin-language movement pushed by the
KMT since 1949 has oppressed the Hakka language.
"Only when such historical pain is understood can reconciliation
be possible," Yang said.
But, "if every ethnic group focuses only on its own pain,
reconciliation cannot be accomplished," Yang said.
Ng Chiautong (黃昭堂), chairman of the World United Formosans
for Independence, said the impression that his group cannot
tolerate ethnic differences was not true.
Ng said that what really causes stress in the Taiwanese independence
movement is the issue of national identity, rather than ethnic
identity.
"People who identify themselves with Taiwan are our friends,
and those who identify with the People's Republic of China are
our enemies," Ng said. For Ng, there are only two ethnic
groups in Taiwan -- Chinese and Taiwanese.
Kuo Li-hsin (郭力昕), a lecturer in the Department of Radio and
Television at National Chengchi University, said that it is
only through respecting ethnic differences that various ethnic
groups can live together peacefully.
Kuo said that, as a second-generation mainlander, he believes
the first step in reconciliation is "for the mainlanders
to admit their original sin (原罪) and the wounds the mainlanders
inflicted on indigenous Taiwanese people in the past."
"We have to face our original
sin and develop a self-examination mechanism in our mind. Then
the bias and discrimination can be removed," Kuo added.
Chiang Wen-yu (江文瑜), associate professor at National Taiwan
University's Graduate Institute of Linguistics' Department of
Foreign Languages and Literature, talked about ethnic divisions
from the point of view of the media.
Chiang stressed that the media in Taiwan have created three
false images. The first is the image of Taiwan as being a disastrous
society -- through broadcasting horrible images on TV 24 hours
a day. The second is to exaggerate the importance of Taipei
by ignoring other places in Taiwan. The third is the exaggeration
of Beijing's influence by constantly broadcasting Chinese officials'
threats to Taiwan.
"These factors become a bone of contention among different
ethnic groups during election periods," Chiang said.
The scholar concluded that the media is responsible for for
exacerbating ethnic conflict.
