On June 16, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) attended the National Hakka
Conference. In addition to presenting the Hakka Contribution Award, he
made sure that he stressed the results of his Hakka policies. The
address, the whole of which was delivered in Hakka, won him enthusiastic
applause.
Ironically, it was not that long ago that the Control
Yuan proposed corrective measures to the Hakka Culture Park project. It
is clear that the government’s Hakka policy must be further
consolidated, and that the National Hakka Conference has its job cut out
for it.
First, current policy is focusing too much on facilities
and not enough on support. New Hakka cultural centers are constantly
being built around the country, but only a handful of these centers are
being effectively run and connected to cultural workers at the
grassroots level. Most of them are becoming breeding grounds for
mosquitoes, or are being put to other uses. The cultural parks that have
been established at great expense in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township
(銅鑼) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) may be beautiful to look
at, but there is no substantive connection between these parks and the
Hakka villages where they have been established.
The thinking that
locks up Hakka culture in museums should be abandoned. Instead, the
issue should be looked at from the perspective of eco-museums, which
could be used as a platform to connect Taiwan’s Hakka villages. This
would not only offer a living Hakka culture, it would also bring a
potential rejuvenation of the villages. The best example of this
approach are the Hakka villages concentrated along Provincial Highway
No. 3 and in the Liouduei (六堆) area.
Second, there is still much hype surrounding Hakka policy, but it is
not going deep enough. This is the danger with the current
festival-focused policy. The annual 12 Major Hakka Festivals rely on
short and well-publicized activities to attract the attention of the
media and local Hakka communities. These events burn up huge budgets,
but fail to energize local culture.
Government resources to
vitalize Hakka cultural festivals, should be directed at the skills
acquired through continuous day-to-day training and not just focus on
the festival as a temporary performance. Cultural festivals should be
seen as a way to bring forward more Hakka performance troupes and
traditional folk artists and to engage the younger generation. They
should also be used to provide a more permanent platform for continued
promotion and consolidation of cultural work.
Finally, the policy
should not be disconnected from, or even function in opposition to, the
issue of Hakka village development. These villages are predominantly
rural villages and they are currently at risk of being emptied. While Ma
vowed to bring prosperity to the villages at the National Hakka
Conference, other policies continue to expose these villages to
ecological disaster, causing people to move away.
Two examples are
the algal reefs in Taoyuan County and the Tienhuahu Reservoir project
(天花湖水庫) in Miaoli County. How is the government proposing to bring
prosperity to Hakka villages and to vitalize the culture when people are
moving away?
As local economies slump, the social economy is held
up as a force that will revitalize communities and create more equal
and sustainable development.
In reality, it is the traditional connection between clan society and
local communities that has provided the development potential for the
social economy. The Hakka village economy can step out of this narrow
framework and connect to the social innovation that is occurring in the
much wider agricultural and care sectors.
The policy should not
only be a matter of the Council for Hakka Affairs building shiny
facilities or organizing bustling festival activities.
As Ma’s
Hakka language skills improve, we are looking forward to the emergence
of Hakka policies that rely on new and innovative ideas, such as the
eco-museum and social economy concepts. These would consolidate Hakka
culture and provide the villages with an environment conducive to
sustainable development.
Liu Chieh-hsiu is secretary-general of the Taiwan Hakka Think Tank. Tseng Nien-yu is president of the Taiwan Hakka Think Tank.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Ma’s Hakka policy needs rethink
