How do we account for the prominence of so many major Hakka political leaders?

["Dixie" <Dixie@singnet.com.sg>]

Reposting this:


How do we account for the prominence of so many major Hakka political
leaders? 
 
My own view, admittedly somewhat speculative, centres on the dialect
group's 
history as a 
diaspora people escaping persecution from non-Chinese invaders and Chinese 
groups. 
 
This creates among its members a keener awareness of how the larger
political 
processes can  
affect individual lives. 
 
Long after the initial migrations, the arduous journeys from political 
persecution survive in  
the collective folk consciousness.  
 
Living away from large population centres in barricaded mountain
"fortresses" 
also allows for  
a degree of independence from political authority not afforded the
villagers 
of the fertile  
plains. 
 
Another result of living in remote mountainous regions with meagre land is
the 
necessary  
cultivation of an ethic of hard work, and an ability to withstand extreme 
privation. 
 
Such a culture provides an excellent political training ground for dynamic
men 
with strong  
convictions, with a gift for rallying whole communities, and able to
withstand 
prolonged periods 
of adversity in the wilderness. 
 
Living at the periphery of major population centres nurtures in the Hakka a

tradition of  
independent political thought and action. 
 
- written by Lam Pin Foo, a Hakka lawyer