Amid an ongoing controversy over Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) status as the nation’s “founding father,” Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) yesterday refused to bow to Sun’s portrait when a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker asked him to do so during a legislative question-and-answer session.
When taking the floor, KMT Legislator-at-large Chang Li-shan (張麗善) asked Premier Simon Chang (張善政) to walk to the center of the legislative chamber for the ceremonial “three bows” to Sun’s portrait, which hangs above the seat of the legislative speaker facing the chamber.
Chang Li-shan, who is from a politically influential family in Yunlin County, then asked Su, and all officials and lawmakers present at the chamber, to join her in the courtesy bows.
Photo: CNA
Su rebuffed her request, saying it was inappropriate to undertake such an action during a session and there was no precedent for it.
“If every legislator wanted to do so, it would not be in line with procedures,” Su said.
“I urge all legislators to respect their turn on the floor, and they should conduct themselves in an appropriate manner during the question-and-answer session,” Su added.
Chang Li-shan said that since the legislature has not yet approved a proposal to remove Sun’s portraits from public buildings, the legislative speaker, as the head of people’s elected representatives, should pay his respect to the Republic of China’s founding father.
Su replied: “I can decide on my own whether to face the portrait of the ‘founding father’ or not.”
Together with Simon Chang, the KMT legislator performed the courtesy bows to Sun’s portrait, as she bellowed the traditional summons of “first bow, second bow, third bow.” The other legislators and government officials did not join them and remained in their seats.
During the afternoon session, Simon Chang said: “In theory, it is OK to take such bows to Sun’s portrait.”
“It has always been OK to do so, but on what occasions? The legislative speaker has his way of presiding over the chamber, and we should also respect how the speaker conducts the sessions,” he said.
“I was not sure if it had violated the legislature’s regulations, but we should abide by the legislative speaker’s decision. So I will check with the him on this issue later on,” he added.
The premier said he was in a difficult position at the time, so he paid his respects with a slight dipping of his head.
On Friday last week, KMT legislators blocked a proposal to remove Sun’s portrait from public buildings by returning three related draft bills to the Procedure Committee.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) met with strong opposition from KMT legislators following his proposal to drop the tradition of saluting the portrait of Sun, referred to as the nation’s “founding father” by decrees under past KMT administrations.
Gao drafted amendments to the National Emblem and National Flag of the Republic of China Act (中華民國國徽國旗法) and the Oath Act (宣誓條例) for his proposal, saying that there is no constitutional basis for Sun’s title.
“The DPP has created a mechanism for transitional justice, which will deliberate on removing Sun’s portrait, and the proposals will be in its reports. As the KMT is opposed to the proposals, we are back to the Procedure Committee,” Gao said.
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