Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), widow of Chang Sen-wen (張森文) who owned the Chang Pharmacy that was torn down in the Dapu Incident (大埔), yesterday expressed her determination to stay by her ruined home and fulfill her late husband’s wish of seeing their home rebuilt.
The Dapu Incident refers to the Miaoli County Government’s seizure of farmland in the county’s Jhunan Township (竹南) to expand the Hsinchu Science Park, when it blocked roads and sent excavators onto farms that were awaiting harvest and forcibly demolished four family houses in Dapu Borough (大埔) last year.
Yesterday was the first anniversary of Chang’s death. He was found dead in an irrigation channel near where his house used to stand, one month after the land was expropriated and torn down.
Photo: Cheng Hung-ta, Taipei Times
Although the evictions of the Changs and three other families were deemed unlawful by the court, the county government and the Ministry of the Interior has refused to return the land and rebuild the houses as the families requested.
“Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) had threatened us by saying: ‘There would be no road for even a scooter to pass through,’ and later forcibly demolished the building. They told us they were expropriating our land for the betterment of the people, but the rising buildings on the land expropriated for that exact reason stand witness to the great lie of the Miaoli County Government,” Peng said. “That the common people would be subjected to such despotic acts reveals problems with the nation. This is an example of the tyranny of government — an act that happened because we had no political background.”
Peng said she wanted to thank all the people who had stood by her family during the incident, adding that though she did not recognize many, they had given her the courage to carry on.
“We will stand by my husband’s wishes and see to it our home is rebuilt, right here on our own land,” she said.
Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) accused the government of doing nothing to compensate the Changs.
“Returning the land and rebuilding the houses” is not a mercy from the government, rather, it is a responsibility that the government should take up for its policy mistakes, Lin said, urging the government to respond to the families’ requests, compensate them, and rebuild their homes.
To stop further disputes due to land expropriation, the party would restart its campaign to amend the Land Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例), Lin added.
Additional reporting by Chen Hui-ping
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀) has been sentenced to three years in prison, fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,890) in personal assets and deprived political rights for one year for “inciting secession” in China, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said today. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict on Feb. 17, Chen said. The trial was conducted lawfully, and in an open and fair manner, he said, adding that the verdict has since come into legal effect. The defendant reportedly admitted guilt and would appeal within the statutory appeal period, he said, adding that the defendant and his family have
RSS