Outsiders often say that Taiwanese lack international perspective. Ask people to describe Aceh, Indonesia, where more than 200,000 people were lost in the 2004 South Asian tsunami, and not one in ten could tell you correctly where it is or what happened there.
On the other hand, many Taiwanese NGOs immediately mobilized in relief efforts and were very clear about the situation and the victims' needs. In particular, the 100% "made-in-Taiwan" Tzu Chi Foundation was able to take advantage of the military, governmental, and business connections of its local ethnic-Chinese members to work as effectively as the best-organized relief organizations in the world. These NGOs' international perspective and ability to act is surely Taiwan's most important link to the world.
For this month's issue, editor Coral Lee and senior photojournalist Chuang Kung-ju bravely headed to the areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka hit by the tsunami. Before they set off, many experienced NGO members and officials warned them that Sri Lanka was especially dangerous, as Tamil separatist attacks were at a high. During their visit, they took a bumpy eight-hour trip from Colombo to hard-hit Hambantota and were stopped at a roadside checkpoint by armed troops. They came to no harm, but when they think of how this beautiful and pious Buddhist nation has been ravaged by war and disaster they can't help but sigh for its fate.
Aceh's plight is a similar one. After years of poverty and inner strife, it was swallowed up by the very sea its residents depended on for their livelihoods.
According to one survivor's account, "Suddenly, a wave like a giant black wall covered the sky." A great wall eight stories high rose out of the harbor and sped up the river channel at 50 kilometers per hour. Boats, buildings and vehicles along its path were knocked over like dominoes. The numbers of dead and missing were so great, and so many bodies were unidentifiable or buried in mass graves, that the government had to give up on compiling a death count.
Three years have passed. Our photojournalist Chuang Kung-ju, feeling the spirits of the dead around him, wrote this poem:
Sorrowful Aceh, / Waves washed away her home / Blood and soil and tears / Join together to form great sorrow. / The wind blows a requiem, / A roaming poet recites on an earthen hillside. / Below are beloved family members. / Crying out, he can only / Sing out an unforgettable fear.
You know that / The clanking of the metal gates / Cannot be washed away by the awful waters- / It is the path of the spirits.
Company is the best medicine. It can bring out humanity's innate ability to heal. As well as building homes and reconstructing communities, volunteers from Taiwan's NGOs were able to share their own experiences from the September 21, 1999 earthquake. This gave Taiwan's assistance efforts in Aceh a personal touch.
This issue has another heavyweight theme-"Senior Power: The Rise of the Post-Retirement Society." Taiwan's labor force participation rate for middle-aged and elderly people is much lower than the world average, so this is a positive trend.
Actually, retiring too early isn't a good thing. I know many retired public officials and schoolteachers in their early fifties who live solitary lives and never mention that they're already retired, for fear of their neighbors' ridicule. The subject of one of this month's stories, Jacqueline Whang-Peng, is still working hard at 75 and bravely says, "I've still got a few years left in me!" Only with that kind of can-do spirit can one make it so far!
The most important event of the month of March was the birth of the Republic of China's twelfth presidential administration. President-elect Ma Ying-jeou enjoys unprecedented popularity, but faces unprecedented domestic and international challenges too. Taiwan Panorama will have a special report for readers once the new administration is in plces.
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