Leadership and Nationhood

Opening 

“What is the biggest surprise in your life?” Can you pick one easily ? I can pick one easily. Today, I would like to share the biggest surprise in my life, which is an experience living in Taiwan. 

Body

In Singapore,  I made several same mistakes. (Note: start acting, trying to be comical as sensitive topic) I saw an Indian speaking an Indian language with side to side head tilting, and I asked, “Do you come from India ?”, he answered “No I am Singaporean”.  I saw a Chinese who speaks Mandarin, then I asked “Are you Chinese?”, he answered , “No, I am Singaporean”. I saw a Malay lady, she told me ”I am Singaporean”. In Singapore, there are different ethnic groups, they speak different languages, eat different foods, yet, they call themselves as Singaporean. 

I came to Taiwan from Singapore. In Taiwan, some people say. “We are Chinese, not Taiwanese”. Some people say “We are Taiwanese, not Chinese”. (Note: end acting)  People are divided on its own identity.  People in Taiwan speaks the same language, and eats the same, and looks like same.  I was so surprised why people in Taiwan are divided, unlike people in Singapore.  This is the biggest surprise in my life.  (Note: pausing)

After researching, I have an idea to this question.  To answer this question, let me quote from Lee Kwan Yew’s book, Hard Truth . 

Quote ”Nationhood is an artificial creation, it’s an artefact of how you divide peoples of different races into countries that govern themselves ”Unquote  (Note: prepare small leaflets, so audience can read the same quote to understand)

(Note: by showing a picture of Indian bank note)  In India, bank notes has 17 languages, illustrating the diversity of the country. One day, I asked my Indian colleague, why India can be united as one country despite of the huge diversity?  He answered, because of Mahatma Gandhi.  Back then, the Britain rules the most of the world, they are formidable,  but Mahatma Gandhi defeated the British empire with non-violence. We all respect him. Mahatma Gandhi created the country, India and created the people, Indians.

In Singapore, no matter which races, Indian, Malay, Chinese, and even Japanese, all respect Lee Kwan Yew,  he established the country, Singapore and created Singaporean. 

In China,  Sun Yat San, excluded Manchurian ( 滿族; Mǎnzú) from Chinese to defeat Qing Dynasty.  After defeating Qing Dynasty, Manchurian becomes a part of Chinese, in order to keep the country size as big as Qing Dynasty. 

In the Bible, the old testament, Moses led the twelve tribes  to the new land, and created the Israelites. 

These four examples has one thing in common. The great leadership leads to the Nationhood.  

Closing

Back to my question, why people in Taiwan looks all the same but divided ?  I have concluded myself that one reason is lack of great leadership at the level of Moses, Gandhi, although these prominent figures rarely appear. If Taiwan had such an equivalent leader, great enough to unite people, there would not have been the division. 

Let me repeat the quote from LKY,   Quote “Nationhood is an artificial creation” Unquote, and the great leadership leads to Nationhood. 

Note: 

Feedback 1: The conclusion is not definitive, as there should be many factors. 

Feedback 2:  Better to use a quote from a scholar (Benedict Anderson, or Ernest Gellne - recommended to read “Peasants into Frenchmen”)