Sat, Sep 26, 2009 page8

• JOHNNY NEIHU’S MAILBAG

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  Rectify this

  Dear Johnny,

  Several weeks ago I was listening to a podcast of Bill Moyer’s Journal. The topic of the podcast was completely unrelated to Taiwan, but during the course of the discussion, countries with politicians that flout the law or change it to suit political ambitions, prosecute previous administrations based on policy differences and have a lack of due process were described as “Banana Republics.”

  Well, you can imagine what that reminded me of. Given the proceedings of the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) trial and now the refusal to release him to prepare an appeal — despite the comments of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “mentor,” Jerome Cohen — I think it’s high time we engaged in some name rectification and updated the name of our fair island to reflect reality.

  Although it may be more accurate to refer to Taiwan as a “Betel Nut Republic,” there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel given that the term “Banana Republic” has been around since 1904. Therefore, without further adieu, I give you “Taiwan, BROC” — the Banana Republic of China.

  MARVIN HILLER

  Taipei

  Johnny replies: Excellent suggestion, Marvin, though we might have to take into consideration the destruction of the banana harvest by Typhoon Morakot. By the way, do you really think this government gives a rat’s ass what Jerome Cohen thinks?

  Rectify this, too

  Dear Johnny,

  Are you aware that Taiwan’s government makes a distinction between ordinary “foreigners” and “overseas Chinese” and charges the foreigners twice as much for health insurance, ARC renewal and presumably many other things as well? Why was this relic of Chinese chauvinism not removed by the DPP back when they were in power?

  I’d also like to ask if the Taiwanese have ever campaigned to change names to something, well, Taiwanese. Besides the Chinese place names that proliferate throughout Taipei’s road network (especially in Wanhua District (萬華), home of “Tibet Road”), pretty much every town in the country has a Zhongzheng Road (for Chiang Kai-shek, 蔣介石) and a Zhongshan Road (for Sun Yat-sen, 孫中山).

  Worst of all, some townships, like Sansia (三峽, formerly known as San-kak-eng, but renamed by the KMT in honor of Sichuan’s Three Gorges), have prominent streets named Jieshou, or “Long Live Chiang Kai-shek.” And don’t even get me started on the Aboriginal townships inexplicably named Renai (仁愛), Sinyi (信義) and Heping (和平). It’s 2009, for Matsu’s sake — you’d think bentuhua would have taken hold by now.

  NICK

  Johnny replies: On your first questions, I was vaguely aware of this, and I note that in line with our de facto status as an independent country, this discrimination now represents de facto Taiwanese chauvinism.

  On the last question, there were some changes: Ketagalan Boulevard consigned Peanut to the grave in Taipei, while Mangka Boulevard (using Wanhua’s old name) is a newish artery. Elsewhere, Namasiya Township (那瑪夏) replaced “Three Principles of the People” (Sanmin, 三民) but as God is a Nationalist, Morakot duly punished those insolent folks.
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