By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Labeling her a “pseudo Hakka” for her inability to speak Hakka fluently is unacceptable, since language proficiency should never be judged as a “cardinal sin,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
She said the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) “crude language policies” of the past was the reason her Hakka was not more fluent.
Tsai was responding to comments by former KMT chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) — a Hakka — who told a rally in support of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Sunday that Tsai was a “pseudo Hakka” because she could not speak Hakka and had not spoken it in more than 50 years.
“I admit my Hakka is not good enough, but I am proud of my Hakka ancestry and appreciate that Hakka people across the nation have accepted me with open arms as one of them,” Tsai said.
However, telling people not to support her because she is a fake Hakka or because of her limited Hakka-language ability was unacceptable, she said.
“I am not the only Hakka who can’t speak fluent Hakka. Many people can’t,” Tsai said.
“And there are many Hoklo people are not able to speak fluent Hoklo [also known as Taiwanese] as well,” she added.
The KMT’s language policies, which only promoted Mandarin during the Martial Law era and suppressed the development of other languages, such as Hakka, Hoklo and Aboriginal languages, are the reason why the children of these ethnic groups did not learn or speak their mother tongue, she said.
“Not only has the KMT failed to apologize for its wrong policies, it is now playing the race card to cover the failure of its policies,” Tsai said. “It is immoral to resort to the tactic of inciting ethnic divisions.”
Ma said being a “Mainlander” was his “cardinal sin” when his proposal to sign a peace accord with China was received negatively and was described as a plan to “sell out Taiwan,” Tsai said.
“So has KMT decided to resort to a strategy of ethnic division to boost its presidential campaign?” she said.
Tsai pledged to learn Hakka and promised to create a fair environment for all ethnic groups, cultures and languages if she was elected president in January, adding that her respect for the Hakka spirit and culture is what counts.
“And nobody should have to have a cardinal sin for his or her identity or the language he or she speaks,” she added.