The good news for Chiang Kai-shek (
The statues of Chiang that had been a ubiquitous feature of the nation's streets, parks and military bases have been subjected to increasingly diffident treatment since power transferred from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2000.
DPP legislators have asked the Ministry of National Defense to move all of the statues at its bases indoors before the anniversary of the 228 Incident at the end of this month. The party is also working to have Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall renamed "Taiwan Democracy Hall." After a report last year on the 228 Incident placed the blame for the incident on Chiang and with the coming 60th anniversary of the incident, anti-Chiang sentiment has seen something of a revival.
Many Taiwanese grew up being told that the dictator was the "savior of the people and a hero of the world."
But Taiwan has democratized, power has shifted and society isn't obliged to suffer KMT brainwashing any longer.
Now Taiwan can freely gather the facts and decide what Chiang's legacy should be.
After decades of reflection, Taiwan's negative view of Chiang has grown firmer. While in China, Chiang succeeded in leading the Northern Expedition to defeat the warlords and unify China. But Chiang was a warlord himself who fostered corruption and civil strife in his quest for power.
Although he led the Nationalists against the Japanese, his rule remained unstable after the Japanese defeat, ultimately leading to civil war in China and the Nationalists' retreat to Taiwan.
Chiang's military crackdown during the 228 Incident led to massive loss of life. The purges of the White Terror era that followed led to the killing and imprisonment of many dissidents and activists.
Chiang always considered himself a visitor and viewed Taiwan as just a base for an invasion to recapture China. He was never accepted in the same way as his reformist son Chiang Ching-kuo (
Like many things, power is fleeting. With the loss of the influence that elevated Chiang to his position as dictator, the adulation he received earlier has all but disappeared.
Opinions have always been polarized on Chiang's rule, but a democratic Taiwan should make an even-handed assessment of his historical position.
An even-handed assessment is based on facts. It is a fact that Chiang had tens of thousands of Taiwanese killed. It is a fact that he had thousands more imprisoned, ripping them away from their families because they dared to challenge their oppressor. It is a fact that the KMT, the world's wealthiest political party, amassed assets during Chiang's corrupt rule by stealing them from Taiwanese, their rightful owners.
An even-handed assessment was delayed by years of KMT rule and it has taken seven long years for the DPP to remove the statues.
But better late than never. The government should let Taiwanese society freely discuss what Chiang's legacy should be. The statues are relatively unimportant in themselves, but while some might see them as representing Chiang as a hero, others will see the statues as proof of the KMT's efforts to keep Taiwanese in a state of symbolic subjugation.
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Tuesday last week apologized over allegations that the former director of the city’s Civil Affairs Department had illegally accessed citizens’ data to assist the KMT in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors. Given the public discontent with opposition lawmakers’ disruptive behavior in the legislature, passage of unconstitutional legislation and slashing of the central government’s budget, civic groups have launched a massive campaign to recall KMT lawmakers. The KMT has tried to fight back by initiating campaigns to recall DPP lawmakers, but the petition documents they
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
RSS