Ma Continues the KMT Belittling of Taiwan's Aborigines

Monday May 09, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Ma Ying-jeou continued to express his Han chauvinistic prejudice in recent remarks to the aboriginal community. It was bad enough to hear his past telling the aborigines that they need to move into the city where they will receive a proper education on being civilized. Somehow he had implied that living in nature and on one's ancestral lands automatically made one uncivilized and a barbarian. But this time Ma went beyond just speaking on locale determining brains. This time he may have thought he was complimenting them, but that is Ma logic and Han chauvinism.

In his usual condescending way, Ma told the Aborigines they should not seek autonomy on their native lands, this would not be good for them because it would isolate them and (here comes the implied thought)perpetuate their ignorance. Forget that these are the ancestral lands of the Aborigines that had been taken from them by the KMT government of the past; forget that they are seeking control over what is rightfully theirs. The reason again is that they need the patriarchal protection of the KMT government. Ah yes, father always knows what is best for the children.

Ma did not leave it with just implication; he tried to praise the Aborigines by saying that they were good in music and sports, but (again the ultimate implication) they are not educated, they do not have wisdom, they don't know how to govern themselves and they don't know what is good for them. Only Ma does.

Somehow when I heard these remarks I could not think of the past Civil Rights battles in the States where white supremacists tried to argue that the blacks were not capable of self-government or making any contributions to the nation. I guess Barack Obama and the people that voted for him never heard those messages.

These are the things that continue to worry many about Ma's mental processes. Does he really believe such? He is also condescending towards Taiwanese because they also do not have the wisdom of the KMT waishengren; Taiwanese have been tainted by Japanese rule, colonialism and inter-marrying with aboriginals. Taiwan does not know what is good for it; only Ma does and he will lead them back to the wisdom of China. When will Taiwanese and Aboriginals finally see through him?