A letter to former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) from his eldest daughter, Judy Linton (林奐均), was published on his anti-nuclear campaign Web site yesterday, as Lin’s indefinite hunger strike against the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant entered its second day.
Linton was the only survivor of an attack by on Feb. 28, 1980, that claimed the lives of her twin sisters and Lin’s mother at their home in Taipei.
The home was later converted into the Gikong Presbyterian Church, which is where Lin is staging his hunger strike in a bid to force the government to stop building the plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City.
Linton, who was only nine at the time of the murders, survived the attack despite being stabbed seven times. She moved to the US in August 1981, married an American and is now a mother of five.
The high-profile murders spawned a myriad of conspiracy theories, since they occurred eight days after Lin was indicted on sedition charges for his involvement in the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident. They remain unsolved.
“You have always been a great father to me and a great grandfather to my children... Your love has made us stronger and more resilient,” Linton wrote in the letter on Monday, in which she urged her father to think of the faces of his granddaughters whenever he felt like giving up his campaign.
“Your life has brought strength to these children and losing you would undoubtedly leave an irreparable hole in their lives. Please keep on striving [for your cause] and stay in our lives,” she wrote.
Linton wrote that while her father’s endeavor to pursue his ideals even at the cost of his life was what made him extraordinary, he was “not ready to enter eternity.”
“Father, although I have a lifetime to think about the things you have said to me in your letters, there are still many things in life that I want to discuss with you in person. Please, please give me more opportunities to talk to you,” she added.
The letter was published the day after Linton’s mother, Fang Su-min (方素敏), visited her husband at the church on Tuesday night.
Fang arrived at about 7:25pm and stayed for one-and-a-half hours, after which she left without speaking to anyone outside.
Prior to beginning his fast, Lin said that although his actions weighed heavily on his wife and daughter, they still supported him.
National Taiwan University physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — an independent aspirant for the Taipei mayoral elections — on Tuesday said that the 73-year-old Lin’s health could be at risk just two days into the hunger strike.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS