Taiwan

Many articles have been written about the Taiwan-China conflict, but I have not seen any on the people of Taiwan.

Taiwan, a colony of Japan from 1895 to 1945, currently enjoys a very high living standard.

At the end of World War II the country was in a shambles. Being a Japanese colony the island endured uncountable hardships, from incessant bombings by Allied warplanes, disease, undernourishment and starvation. People ate two meals a day which mostly consisted of watery porridge mixed with dried sweet potatoes.

What then is the secret behind Taiwan's success as an affluent country with foreign exchange reserves of US$ 90 billion? Education may have been the key to its success. Strange as it may sound, the Japanese colonialists gave the Taiwanese a thorough education during the 50-year occupation. Except for the elderly, everybody spoke Japanese. Besides, the Taiwanese will to give their offspring a good education is remarkable.

One day a close friend invited me to attend his wedding in a remote village. I stayed the night at his house and during my stay I discovered he kept pigs in his house. It was not exactly a hygienic occupation of farmers in those days because pigs were fed with human waste, but in my friend's case it helped the family make ends meet. It also enabled my friend and his brother to finish their university studies in Kyoto, Japan. A friend of theirs from another rural area is now a teacher of biophysics at an American university.

Perseverance, honesty and tenacity have certainly contributed to Taiwan's achievements, one of which is its position as the world's third largest producer of computers. It is the more remarkable if one takes into account the barrenness of its soil.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta