wfn.org | TCN: Protestors decry discrimination against Taiwanese language

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>2997 Edition

>August 3~9, 2009

Protestors decry discrimination against Taiwanese language

>Reported by Lin Yi-ying

>Written by Lydia Ma

An organization opposing the discrimination of Taiwanese language  gathered

outside the Ministry of Education (MOE) on July 28th and threw  sacks full of fake

snakes to show their displeasure. “I am Taiwanese, not  Minnan!” shouted some

>protesters.

According to reports, elementary school and junior high school  curricula across

Taiwan refer to Taiwanese language as “Minnan language”,  but the original

meaning of the character “Min” in “Minnan” is  “snake”.

“Using the term ‘Minnan people’ to refer to  Taiwanese people is the same as

saying we’re descendants of snakes. This is downright  offensive!” said Taiffalo

Chiung, a professor of Taiwanese literature at National Cheng Kung  University

who is also a leader of the organization that planned the protest.

According to Chiung, the Ministry of Education’s use of  “Minnan language” to

refer to Taiwanese language is a form of verbal assault and the  Ministry should

change the term “Minnan” to “Taiwanese”.

Ever since the Ma administration took office, the MOE has slashed  funding for

certification of Taiwanese language in all counties across Taiwan.  The only

funding allotted to promote Taiwanese language are funds that  cover printing

costs and salaries for exam supervisors. The MOE has cut its  financial support of

daily operations and human resources needed to promote Taiwanese  across

Taiwan and has turned to using covert means to undermine Taiwanese

>language, said Chiung.

Chiung said he could now relate to Kaohsiung City Major Chen Chu,  who had to

dole money out from her own pockets to finance the World Games  held in

Kaohsiung last month because the national government didn’t  offer much

financial support to the city. Chiung believes slashing funds that  support

Taiwanese language is a deliberate attempt by the national  government to

undermine and repress the language’s development.

After the protest, the MOE issued a statement clarifying that its  use of the term

“Minnan” is purely for academic purposes and carries no  political or

discriminatory connotation. The MOE also said using the term  “Minnan” would be

more widely acceptable because it would place the language on par  with

Aboriginal languages and Hakka, and no ethnic group in Taiwan  would feel

>undermined.

The MOE claimed the term “Minnan” was already part of  people’s lexicon,

therefore, it has no plans to change this term and it has long  used “Minnan” in

curriculum guidelines. It also argued that time would be better  spent helping

children learn “Minnan” instead of arguing about what  term should be used to

>refer to the language.

In response to the MOE’s comments, Chiung said the Ministry  was simply being

stubborn and making excuses because a public forum was organized  before the

curricula were officially published and attendees at the forum had  objected using

the term “Minnan language” and had requested for it to  be changed to

“Taiwanese language”. At the time, officials responsible  for drafting the curricula

replied frankly that top officials from MOE had specifically  instructed them to use

“Minnan” instead of “Taiwanese”.

Chiung is convinced this exchange of words during the forum  sufficiently proves

the MOE had already staked out its position and was determined to  stay the

course. It also proves that MOE officials are dishonest and  irresponsible public

servants who only know how to butter up to President Ma and his  administration’s

goal of “de-taiwanization”, said Chiung.

Chiung further clarified that “Minnan” refers to a  family of dialects spoken in

southern regions of Fujian province in China. The MOE statement  that “Minnan”

is already part of people’s lexicon in Taiwan implies there  is nothing wrong in

considering Taiwanese as one of the many dialects spoken in the  southern

>regions of Fujian – a Chinese province.

Though citizens have complained about this discrimination against  their

language, the MOE hasn’t budged and is determined to continue  bullying

Taiwanese people, said Chiung. Hence, the organization opposing  the

discrimination of Taiwanese language feels the MOE should be  severely

reprimanded and required to issue a public apology to Taiwanese  people.

The organization does not rule out stronger action in the near  future, including

pressing charges against the Ma administration’s MOE for  trampling human

rights and bringing up this issue to the United Nations’  attention.

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