Re: Singapore also suppress Hakka

["Nam c. Low" <nclow@ibm.net>]

At 09:06 AM 12/12/96, you wrote:
>
>
>
>> >From msliew@cyberway.com.sg Mon Dec  2 14:23:37 1996
>> From: liew mee sen <msliew@cyberway.com.sg>
>> Subject: Re: Singapore also suppress Hakka
>> 
>> > >From ALBERT-C@wpogate.slu.edu Wed Nov 27 14:15:22 1996
>> > From: Jen-Yih Chu  <ALBERT-C@wpogate.slu.edu>
>> > Subject:  Singapore also suppress Hakka
>> > 
>> > Tai-ka ho:
>> > The following is the letter I sent earlier to Jonathan:
>> > 
>> > Dear Johnathan:
>> > As you discuss once before, both the governments in Taiwan and
>> > China suppress Hakka.  Do you believe Singapore too? You know
>> > that more than I do. Can ex-primier Lee, K-Y still speak Hakka?
>> > Or should I said, will he speak Hakka publicly in TV or in the
>> > public meeting.
>> > In Taiwan, at least the politician will speak Hakka during the
>> > campaign. In order to get more vote, the candidates are willing
>> > to speak Hakka. Like the last few elections, President Lee
>> > Teng-hui, the Taiwan provincial chief (governer) Song Chu-yu,
>> > Taipei major Chen Shui-pian all learned to speak few Hakka in the
>> > Hakka areas. Do you or any one know, do candidates speak Hakka at
>> > all in Singapore for the sake of more votes?
>> > I just curious.   Thanks                         Jen-yih
>> > 
>> > >From reading the letters of Kuang-liong and An-Pheng, indeed
>> > Singapore government looks down Hakka and other southern
>> > languages.  The description of education policy by An-Pheng is
>> > not much different from Taiwan probably 10 years ago.  Languages
>> > originally existed in Taiwan such Hoklo and Hakka were banned in
>> > school, TV and public places.  Not until Taiwan became more
>> > demoncrat, the right to use mother tongue prevailed.  In USA, TV
>> > programs in different languages are allowed. I believe this is
>> > the difference between demoncracy and authoritarianrism.
>> > Thanks                                      Jen-yih
>> For years, Singapore its is known that Singapore advocate the use of
>> mandarin as the one language for communicating with the diverse Chinese
>> community. All the Chinese programmes are in Mandarin.
>> 
>> I think "suppression" is too strong a word. Suppression would be a ban
>> on hosting the 13th Hakka Reunion in Singapore. In any case, there is a
>> balance of both Mandarin and Hakka addresses in the Congress.
>> 
>> In the 3rd Hakkalogy International Conference, almost all the delegates
>> elect to present their papers in Mandarin and not in Hakka. Where? It is
>> because they find Mandarin is more convenient to reach out to the
>> masses.
>> 
>> I do not wish to engross in an emotion debate over this issue.
>> 
>> 
>You may be right. However, I don't think it's appropriate to use Mandarin 
>in Hakka conference. Is the conference to deliver some messages or to 
>promote Hakka culture? If the answer is the later,then it should be in 
>Hakka. This is my opinion,even though I didn't attend ,don't fully 
>understand Hakka and Mandarin. May be next time some courageous one will 
>conduct the meeting in Hakka.
>
>Y.Lert.
>

I attended the 3ICOH.  I enjoyed it very much although my specialty is in
Information Engineering.  The main media of conference was Mandarin and
written Chinese for many sessions and there was one session in English for
the presenters of  French, American, German, British, Hong Konger, and me,
we used English.  Besides me, they are all Hakkaology Scholars.   For the
matters of scholastic discussions and research, what spoken languages were
used to conduct the meeting really do not matter.  During the conference,
when we were mentioning  some entities relating to the Hakka -Core matters, we
did not translated, we used Hakka dialect to maintain Hakka original spirit.

I understand the three languages/dialect and could not attend as many concurrent
sessions as I wished.  I missed some of the discussions on Hakka Women Session.
I have experienced the values of Eastern, Western (North 
America), and now the Eastern Cultures again for the last 35 years with equal
spanning on the East and West cultures. 

Talking about conference, there will be a 3ICHD (3rd International Conference
on Hakka Dialects) to be held in JiangXi Province in Auguest 1998.  Those
interested should contact:

        mailto://ctcflau@polyu.edu.hk

for details.

Just for fun as a quiz, what is "Half-Mountain Hak"?  This terminology
did not appear in HGN before, I throw it in now for fun.

Rgds,
Nam Low