[koe]: [Taipei Times] Li Khin-huann: Unkind cuts target the majority's language

Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/02/21/2003436654

Unkind cuts target the majority's
language

By Li Khin-huann 李勤岸

Saturday, Feb 21, 2009, Page 8

'Taiwan has a proficiency certification
system for every language,
including Mandarin, Hakka and indigenous
languages, but not Hoklo.'

Since 2000, Feb. 21 has been observed as
International Mother Language
Day as proclaimed by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO). On this
day every year, UNESCO
announces the current status of mother
tongues worldwide and makes an
urgent call to all countries to preserve
language assets.

The 2001 UNESCO report on mother
languages around the world noted that
languages in Taiwan, except for
Mandarin, are dying. Although these
languages, including Hoklo (commonly
known as Taiwanese), Hakka and
the many indigenous languages, continue
to be widely spoken in some
cases, they are all in need of
preservation efforts.

They are languages of Taiwan, but are
also a common asset shared by
all people. We do not have the right to
harm or destroy them.

It is a great shame that this year,
Taiwan has witnessed the
oppression of Hoklo on the eve of
International Mother Language Day.

We all thought that Taiwan had become a
democratic state full of
cultural diversity and multilingualism.
The savage neglect of language
and oppression of mother tongues should
have passed into history.

Who would have thought that several days
before Lunar New Year,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) would
propose scrapping the entire budget of
NT$40 million (US$1.2 million)
allotted to the Ministry of Education's
National Languages Committee
for developing a Hoklo language
proficiency certification system.

Did the NT$40 million make up a
substantial part of the national
budget of NT$1.8 trillion or the budget
of NT$60 billion allocated to
the ministry?

The committee asked the legislature not
to cancel its budget or at
least not entirely because the
proficiency test has been in
preparation for a year, and said the
government should leave some
money for completing the project.

But in the end, the entire budget was
cut.

What does this mean for the
Hoklo-speaking population? It means that
although they are the largest group in
the country, they are now in a
most disadvantageous situation and exert
no influence.

Taiwan has a proficiency certification
system for every language,
including Mandarin, Hakka and indigenous
languages, but not Hoklo.
What message does this send? That Taiwan
has a barbarous government
that is trying to eliminate Hoklo.

The government has the obligation to
protect humanity's linguistic
assets. Previously, the KMT government
failed to complete its mission
of annihilating Taiwan's mother
tongues. Now that it is back in power,
it intends to finish the job.

Hasn't the government bullied the
public enough?

We must take action on International
Mother Language Day.

Li Khin-huann is chair of the Graduate
Institute of Taiwan Culture,
Language and Literature at National
Taiwan Normal University and chair
of the World Coalition for Taiwan
Languages.

TRANSLATED BY TED YANG

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