In order to encourage young people to participate in public affairs, the Hakka Affairs Council established the Hakka Youth Advisory Committee (HYAC), which held its first meeting on May 15. HAC Minister Gu Show-faye said that HYAC’s first term would serve as a cornerstone for building a dialogue with young people across Hakka villages, as to further understand their needs and instill youthful creativity and professional skills in the Hakka policy-making and implementation process. As a result, this initiative will comprehensively expand Hakka youth engagement in public affairs.
Minister Gu stated that every generation needs to contemplate different matters. The goal of convening this meeting today is, firstly, to engage in discussion and exchanges with young people. This will help HAC integrate their opinions when carrying out policies. As digital natives, present-day youth can leverage their expertise in different fields to give HAC fresher perspectives and reveal newer possibilities for policy-making. In the same way, youth gain the opportunity to give back to Hakka villages and society, bringing progress to their hometowns as they hone their personal skills.
HYAC members come from Hakka villages all over Taiwan and specialize in a variety of sectors, including local revitalization, Hakka arts and culture, Hakka language revival, and multimedia marketing. Using fluent Hakka, each expressed their own objectives and shared previous experience in promoting Hakka affairs. Everyone put forth innovative recommendations regarding Hakka language education and certification, Hakka Chinese input optimization, budget for youth grants, popularization of Hakka music, construction works and resource allocation for Hakka villages, combination of Hakka culture and treasure hunts, and more. All these embody the great attention and creativity of youth towards Hakka affairs.
After the meeting, Minister Gu gave conclusive remarks stating that HYAC discussions should go beyond northern Taiwan. Thus, in the future, HAC Deputy Minister Chiu Hsing-wei will lead HYAC to visit rural areas and conduct multilateral exchanges on Hakka affairs with Hakka institutions and local organizations outside of the Greater Taipei area, in order to strengthen HYAC’s interactions with specific regions and spread resources across the island. The goal is to actively preserve and pass down Hakka language and culture.
