In the days of the White Terror it was common for suspected dissidents to be seized by armed men in broad daylight or dragged from their beds in the middle of the night.
Others simply disappeared, never to be heard from again. Under the heavy surveillance of the Taiwan Garrison Command, the public lived in fear.
After decades of hard work to achieve the democracy and freedom Taiwan enjoys today, the recent incident concerning Democratic Progressive Party Tainan City Councilor Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) is cause for alarm.
Following reports last week that Wang allegedly instigated an incident in which China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) fell over, media outlets reported on Monday that Wang’s life had been threatened by a suspected gangster who demanded that he offer an apology to Zhang.
Cable Channel CTI filmed as Huang Ju-yi (黃如意) sat next to Wang on a sofa and described to him how to present his apology, pounding him on the chest twice.
Wang later told reporters: “A gangster told me, ‘You had better offer an apology to the camera, or I could kill you with one shot.’”
Given past instances in which politicians have staged acts to gain media exposure, it is understandable why some are harboring skepticism over the reports and why they are quick to say Wang staged the incident.
The case is under investigation and until the truth is revealed, the repercussions of the incident can only be speculated on.
If the threat against Wang is real, it should not be viewed as an isolated case. Wang would not be the only victim.
One of the benefits of this democracy is the right to free speech.
People can voice their ideas without having to live in fear of the consequences. Is Taiwan to return to a time when critics are taken away by KGB-like secret agents or gangsters?
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) record of close relations with organized crime has been well documented, and many of these gangs are closely tied to China.
A list issued by Foreign Policy magazine this May ranked Taiwan’s Bamboo Union gang as one of the world’s four most dangerous associations.
The Mainlander gang is known for “drug smuggling, human trafficking and ‘silencing’ journalists as far away as Northern California,” it said.
According to the magazine, the Bamboo Union “emerged as the largest of several Beijing-backed assassination machines in the wake of the communist takeover of mainland China.”
By no means are we suggesting that the Bamboo Union is behind the alleged threat against Wang. However, if authorities fail to take Wang’s statement seriously but to treat it as a petty crime, it is difficult to dismiss the possibility that a policewoman at last Saturday’s anti-government rally was on to something when she told rally-goers that her real boss was “the People’s Republic of China.”
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