Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday said they would propose making April 7 Freedom of Speech Day in memory of the late Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), a democracy advocate who committed suicide 23 years ago.
“The DPP Legislative Caucus unanimously supports the proposal to make April 7 a national Freedom of Speech Day to honor Deng’s fight for basic human rights and we call for non-partisan support for the proposal,” DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said at a press conference held at Deng Nan-jung Memorial Museum.
The museum is located in the apartment in downtown Taipei where Deng set himself ablaze 23 years ago.
On April 7, 1989, Deng, then-publisher of the Freedom Era Weekly magazine, committed suicide by self-immolation at the age of 43, when police tried to arrest him for printing a proposal for a constitution for the Republic of Taiwan in the magazine. Deng had locked himself inside the office for 71 days before setting himself ablaze.
Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), Deng’s widow who went into politics after Deng’s death and served as vice premier under the former DPP administration, said yesterday that her husband’s death had left a legacy to Taiwanese, even though his death had caused great pain to the family.
“When he told me about his plan to set an example for Taiwanese’s endless fight for freedom of speech with his death, I told him that Taiwanese are forgetful and no one would remember him, but history proves that he was right because his legacy lives on,” Yeh said.
The DPP caucus has gathered 42 signatures from DPP and Taiwan Solidarity Union lawmakers for the proposal, DPP legislator Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said.
The DPP has also demanded that the government submit an annual report on press freedom.
The DPP caucus of the Taipei City Council also proposed renaming the lane where the museum is located as “Freedom Lane.”
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but