A dozen former participants of the 1990s Wild Lily Student Movement (
"The wild lily we see now [at the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall] is not the same as the wild lily of the student movement," said Ho Tung-hung (
The Wild Lily Student Movement was launched in the early 1990s in an effort to force changes in the then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
Using a wild lily as a spiritual symbol, the movement drew tens of thousands of people -- mostly college students -- to what was known at the time as Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to call for changes including dismissing the National Assembly, abolishing the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion (
"This is a wild lily that has been `green-ified,'" Ho said yesterday. referring to the hall's wild lily symbol, which features a green background.
"The real wild lilies are those that sprout independently all over the place," Ho said.
The decade-long wrangling between the DPP and the KMT has turned the two parties into two "huge national institutions" that plague the nation and its people, Ho said.
Many people are unable to express their opinions as "all of the channels are monopolized by the parties," he said.
Ho said it is very "ironic" for the DPP government to take the wild lily for its own use as a symbol of the hall because the DPP has forgotten that its opposition to the KMT's former authoritarianism was thanks to the participation of many people.
In response, Ministry of Education Secretary-general Chuang Kuo-jung (
"The symbol should not and does not belong solely to a certain group or party. It represents the will of the people," he said, adding the public must remember that the ministry and the DPP are separate entities and that the ministry does not speak for the party.
He said the pictures of the Wild Lily Student Movement are only a part of the human rights exhibit available in the hall right now. There is much more to Taiwan's democratic struggle than the student movement, he said.
Additional reporting by Jenny W. Hsu
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS