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
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by