Control Yuan members yesterday called on the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) to preserve detention centers used to hold political prisoners during the White Terror era in their original state rather than renovate them.
The watchdog released a report on the preservation of Jingmei Human Rights Memorial Park in Taipei and Green Island Cultural Park, both created at sites that witnessed tens of thousands of political cases, involving about 140,000 victims, during the period.
Control Yuan members Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) and Shen Mei-chen (沈美真), who conducted the investigation, said many people who were held in the centers told them that the way the places had been transformed was appalling.
“I was told [by one man held at the Jingmei military detention center] that the cell was so crowded that [he and other inmates] took turns lying on the floor to sleep. Some slept standing up and some slept in a crouched position. It’s very inappropriate to embellish the rooms in a way that dramatically changes their original appearance,” Shen said.
Huang said the original appearance of the Green Island Cultural Park had changed dramatically.
“The two sites were relics of the authoritarian regime. Each building is still full of memories for the jailed political dissidents. The best way to preserve the parks would be to keep them in their original state and let that tell [the prisoners’] stories,” Huang said.
The investigation found that the CCA had spent 70 percent of the budget earmarked for the preservation of Jingmei Human Rights Memorial Park on renovations.
Huang urged the CCA to stop all renovation projects, saying that the money should be used to conduct oral history interviews with the former political dissidents to shed light on their stories.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS