The National Academy of Educational Research (NAER) on Saturday displayed six major publishers’ latest textbooks revised according to the recently adjusted high-school curriculum guidelines. Among them one publisher was found to have deleted portions from an entry about democracy movement pioneer Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕).
Deng died 26 years ago when he set himself on fire in defense of “100 percent freedom of expression.” On April 7, 1989, Deng, then-editor-in-chief of Freedom Era Weekly, set himself alight as heavily armed police officers attempted to break into his office following 71 days of self-imposed isolation after he was charged with sedition for the anti-government stance of his magazine after it published a draft “Republic of Taiwan Constitution” in 1988.
Textbook publisher Kansi Cultural Co in its previous edition of a civic studies textbook, under the “Human Rights” chapter, had a photograph of a copy of Freedom Era Weekly with a caption reading: “Deng Nan-jung resorted to radical self-immolation to fight for freedom of speech. The photograph is the [weekly’s] special edition to mark the 20th anniversary of Deng’s death.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
However, in its new edition of the textbook, Deng’s photograph was replaced with information about a land seizure in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔) in 2011 and seizures in Taipei’s Huaguang Community (華光社區) since 2010.
Meanwhile, a paragraph in the original Kansi edition reads: “Human rights need to be protected because the nation (國家) possesses armed forces, police and a justice system, which, with its immense power, might cause great damage and oppression to citizens. Human rights might be abused if they are not written into law.”
The original version also mentioned abuses of human rights, including illegal detentions perpetrated by the then-KMT government during the White Terror era.
The revised Kansi edition, in line with the adjusted high-school curriculum guidelines, in reference to the Japanese colonial era, replaced the term “nation” with “colonial government (殖民政府)” — a change educators said “weakened Taiwanese sovereignty and identity.”
In response, NAER director Yang Kuo-yang (楊國揚) said the academy would approve any textbooks that do not conflict with the new curriculum guidelines, adding that Kansi’s replacement of the Deng incident with land seizures does not constitute an infringement of the new curriculum guidelines.
However, Humane Education Foundation executive director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) said that there are always more prominent human rights champions than others, and the omission of Deng by Kansi could be associated with another example of muzzled freedom of speech.
Textbooks are where freedom of speech should be encouraged rather than silenced, she added.
Youth Group in Defense of Taiwanese Culture and History member Lan Shih-po (藍士博) said that in terms of the history of democratic movements, Deng’s struggle for freedom of speech was during the highly significant Martial Law era, while the illegal seizure in Dapu was merely a recent collusion between the government and business interests.
“The two [cases] are essentially different, and Deng’s contributions are irreplaceable,” he said.
National Alliance of Parents’ Organizations president Wu Fu-pin (吳福濱) said the freedom of speech that Taiwanese enjoy is the legacy of Deng and earlier activists, and it is inappropriate to redact Deng’s contributions as he is a human rights champion.
Meanwhile, the Deng Liberty Foundation issued a statement expressing “deep regret.”
“Civic education should help form a Taiwan-centric perspective among next-generation Taiwanese, but the heirs of a foreign, authoritarian regime have taken hold of the power to write history, and erased the White Terror era and massacres of Taiwanese — a serious offense against human rights — to gloss over what it has done and to exploit Taiwanese identity,” the statement said.
Additional reporting by Chen Hui-ping
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS