Dear Editor, LibertyTimes, English text

Dear Editor, APPLE DAILY

The judges for the Ministry of the Interior's increase-the-birthrate
slogan contest have chosen 20 slogans
that will now be voted on online by the public around Taiwan. I took a
look at the ministry's website to
find out which 20 slogans had made the final round, and while many of
them are cute and funny and
warm-hearted, and some are even creative, not one slogan chosen by a
panel of judges for the final top 20 is in Hokklo
or Hakka or any of the many Aboriginal languages in this country. All
20 slogans are in Mandarin. I cannot understand
why in a nation so ethnically and linguistically diverse as Taiwan --
in a good, positive way -- there were no slogans
chosen in Hokklo, Hakk or any of the Aboriginal languages. I am sure
many slogans were submitted in languages
other than Mandarin, so why did the judges only choose Mandarin
slogans for the public to vote on?

I am confused. Of course, some readers of the APPLE DAILY might
think this is just sour
grapes on my part since I entered
the contest and sent in a slogan in Hokklo that I thought would be a winner
-- "bon lah gyam seh koh" [ 摸蛤兼洗褲 ] -- but, alas,
my witty entry did not make the top 20. That's okay. But surely there
should have been some slogans in the top 20
list in Hokklo, Hakka or Aboriginal languages for the public to vote
on. Busasa!


Dan Bloom