President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday bowed and apologized to political dissidents and their families for the abuses of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government during the White Terror era, adding that he would handle such matters more delicately after some dissidents criticized the government for embellishing the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial Park with contentious art.
Speaking at the park’s opening ceremony yesterday morning, Ma said the location, which used to house the Jingmei military detention center, witnessed the development of democracy in Taiwan.
Ma also pledged to take more action to protect human rights.
PHOTO: CNA
“These human rights and democracy fighters played important roles in Taiwan’s history. I am here to give my sincerest apology to those victims who were wrongly accused and persecuted,” Ma said at the ceremony.
Taipei’s Jingmei military detention center was used to hold political dissidents during the White Terror era and after the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 before they were sent to prison or to be executed.
The White Terror era covers the period when martial law was declared on May 19, 1949, and July 15, 1987, when it was lifted. The Kaohsiung Incident refers to Dec. 10, 1979, when the KMT government cracked down and imprisoned participants in an anti-government parade organized by Formosa Magazine.
Some of the dissidents and their family members, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Chen Chia-chun (陳嘉君), wife of former political prisoner Shih Ming-teh (施明德), were invited to attend the ceremony yesterday.
Chen was arrested on Thursday for trying to damage an art display to protest against what she said represented the government’s efforts to honor the old KMT regime. She criticized artist Yu Wen-fu (游文富) for commemorating Wang Hsi-ling (汪希苓), former head of the Military Intelligence Bureau, by displaying his work where Wang was kept under house arrest for ordering the murder of Chinese-American writer Henry Liu (劉宜良) in 1984.
Ma yesterday acknowledged the government’s lack of understanding and respect for the victims’ feelings and said he would ensure that such matters are handled more appropriately.
Chen Chia-chun left the ceremony immediately after Ma made his speech and remained critical of his administration.
“Ma says one thing and does another … The government wasted money and invited artists to commemorate a killer in the park. How is that supposed to make us, the victims and their families, feel?” she said.
Outside the ceremony, several protesters shouted “Ma Ying-jeou is not qualified to talk about human rights!” and protested against Ma’s participation at the ceremony.
After the ceremony, Lu, who was among those who were detained at the center, walked with Ma around the park and showed him the cell where she was held.
“If you have heard people praise Taiwan as a nation that protects human rights, you should feel ashamed because the regime you served failed to do that,” she told Ma.
“You were working in the Presidential Office when I was in prison … Human rights is not about lip service but countless lives,” she said.
Ma acknowledged that the then government was “inhumane” for refusing to allow Lu to attend the funeral service of her mother, adding that his administration would work harder to protect human rights and restore historical truths.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS