Prominent software developer Cheng Yi-ting (鄭伊廷) earlier this week posted on social media a comment saying that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was a visionary hated by “ignorant people” — including Cheng herself — during his time in office.
Cheng is the founder and owner of RocoDev and previously led a programming team who won the grand prize in the Facebook Developer World Hack 2012, a global competition hosted by the social media giant.
In a Facebook post that on Monday was reposted on Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the nation’s largest academic online bulletin board, Cheng said that “ignorant people, my former college student-self included,” hated Chen for being “radical” because the former president was “way ahead of his time and dedicated to breaking the inertia of the public.”
Cheng said she previously derided policies that Chen introduced during his presidency, such as introducing Taiwanese history and geography education at primary schools, and passports with the word “Taiwan” on the cover.
It was her previous belief that Chen was “provoking the international community ... destroying the nation’s foundations ... and causing deviant historical perspectives,” the post said.
“After I grew up, I realized I was ignorant. Super ignorant. What Chen did was right, and what the country needed. He saw the future and dared to make policies for it,” she said.
“Most of us only realized 10 years after the fact that he was a badass and made a lot of contributions to society, which is why he was hated by ignorant people,” she wrote.
PTT users overwhelmingly supported the post with comments such as: “Young and ignorant plus [me]” and “without [Chen], unification would have happened about now.”
The former president was sentenced to 20 years in prison on a series of corruption charges that surfaced shortly after his second term in office ended in 2008. He was also fined NT$250 million (US$7.57 million).
He began serving his sentence on Nov. 11, 2010, but he had been detained for nearly two years prior to that.
Chen was granted medical parole in early January.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS