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Appealing to all
Taiwanese is key
By Yang Ching-yao 楊景堯
If psychological projective tests could be used to examine the collective memory
of different ethnic groups, a comparison of the reviews and box office success
of the Taiwanese play The Village (寶島一村) in China with the negative reception
the Chinese gave to the Taiwanese film Seediq Bale highlights commonalities and
differences in the collective memories on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Such a comparison also allows us to examine the reasons for the pronounced
opposition between the pan-blue and pan-green camps and suggest how candidates
in the Jan. 14 presidential election should handle the issue.
When The Village was performed at the National Theater in Taipei, NT$2,800 only
bought a back seat on the right-hand side of the first floor. The play made a
very deep impression on me and helped me to better understand the hardships many
experienced living in military veteran’s villages in Taiwan. However, when I
looked around the theater during the intermission, I noticed that most of the
audience were “Mainlanders,” middle-aged and older, of a social and economic
standing easily inferred from the expensive tickets. Parts of the plot described
how veterans worried about Taiwan’s future, highlighting certain aspects of
their collective memory.
In contrast, Seediq Bale describes the Wushe Incident (霧社事件) which took place
during the Japanese colonization of Taiwan. Personally, I felt that the movie
was something of which the Taiwanese film industry should be immensely proud, in
addition to which it depicted a part of history that I knew nothing about.
As the presidential election approaches, the popularity and box office success
of Seediq Bale in combination with the experience of Japanese colonization will
almost certainly have a political impact on certain voters.
Given that the search for peace is universal, the dispute over the so-called
“1992 consensus” is just one more projection of the domestic opposition between
the pan-blue and pan-green camps. As the Republic of China Constitution is a
“one China” constitution, the inescapable conclusion is that unless it is
rewritten, taking the Constitution as a staring point means that opposition to
the “1992 consensus” equals opposition to peace across the Taiwan Strait.
However, insistence on this conclusion and a refusal to compromise, thus
ignoring the history and reality that underpins the collective memory of
Taiwan’s different ethnic groups, is tantamount to telling the public that there
can never be a transfer of government power.
That would underestimate the intelligence of Taiwanese voters, and it would also
result in claims that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese
Communist Party are collaborating to sell Taiwan down the river.
Efforts to give the public a “friendly” warning to promote one’s election
prospects and elevate Taiwan’s domestic standoff to the level of a cross-strait
standoff is an old trick that has gradually lost any practical usefulness.
However, national leaders from both the pan-blue and the pan-green camps seem
incapable of transcending Taiwan’s domestic opposition. In 2008, Ma Ying-jeou
(馬英九) was elected president after defeating his opponent by more than 2 million
votes, and his party won almost three-quarters of all legislative seats. He
enjoyed the highest vote in the country’s democratic history and began his term
as president with high public expectations.
Today, however, Ma is clearly experiencing big problems with his re-election
bid. If he and his team looked at the situation from a different perspective,
they would be better able to pinpoint where the problem lies.
Ma has asked why it was a sign of concern for Taiwan when the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) talked about a cross-strait peace agreement, but a sign
of selling out Taiwan when he mentioned it. If he didn’t already know the answer
to that question before he asked it, then he has a serious problem with his
campaign team.
Such a question can only come from not fully considering the collective memory
of the different ethnic groups that make up Taiwan, and it is his inability to
understand the nuances in their reasoning that has become the biggest obstacle
to his re-election.
Taiwanese are really very fortunate and very rich. We are fortunate because
among all Chinese people around the world, Taiwanese are the only ones who can
choose their own leaders in direct elections, and that is something to be
treasured.
We are also rich because we have different collective memories. Chinese culture
and the diversity of ethnic groups should be an asset, not a burden.
Any presidential candidate who wants to win an election must offer positive
policies and do his or her best to appeal to the various ethnic groups.
Yang Ching-yao is an associate professor in the Graduate Institute of China
Studies at Tamkang University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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