Taiwan has come a long way since the Martial Law era. The public would not enjoy the freedom of speech and democracy it does today without the sacrifices made by democracy pioneers such as Freedom Era Weekly editor-in-chief Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who set himself ablaze on April 7, 1989, in defense of freedom of expression.
It is therefore both comforting and encouraging to see young people take a stand, as National Cheng Kung University’s student body did last month when it voted to name an area on campus “Nan-jung Square” (South Banyan Square, 南榕廣場) in honor of Deng, an alumnus of the school, as well as the school’s symbol of a banyan tree.
However, the school administration rejected the name and said that just because “Nan-jung” garnered the most votes, it did not mean the name would be used for the square, because it might carry negative political connotations.
In an open letter issued on Thursday last week to faculty and students, university president Hwung Hwung-hweng (黃煌煇) cited Article 6 of the Education Basic Act (教育基本法) and said the school should remain politically and religiously neutral.
To avoid disruption on campus, the school’s infrastructure should not be entangled with political activities or ideology, he added.
While Hwung’s statement might sound reasonable, it is not.
Deng’s tragic death planted a seed of democracy in the hearts of Taiwanese. His pursuit of “100 percent freedom of expression” later paved the way for a social movement that called for the removal of Article 100 of the Criminal Code, which allowed charges of sedition to be filed against those suspected of plotting to overthrow the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.
Why is a name selected to honor the universal value of freedom of speech, for which Deng laid down his life, considered to have “negative political connotations” that might disrupt the campus?
Hwung should take a closer look at a map of the university campus.
There are several places with names strongly reminiscent of the former authoritarian KMT regime, such the Kuang-fu (光復) and Tzu-chiang (自強) campuses. There is even a Chungcheng Hall (中正堂), an obvious reference to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
If Hwung is serious about retaining “political neutrality” on campus, he should take the lead in ridding the campus of all names with strong links to the previous authoritarian regime and its agenda of “retaking the mainland.”
Young people today are often accused of being apathetic and indifferent to the world around them. Some have even chided them for enjoying the sweet fruit of democracy hard fought for by democracy pioneers without thinking of how they might contribute to and solidify those democratic achievements.
Rather than brushing aside students’ opinions, the university administration should be proud of them for displaying depth and understanding of the nation’s democratization while remembering the blood, sweat and tears shed by democratic pioneers.
After all, is this not the purpose of education — to inspire young minds to stand up for and act upon the values they believe in?
On March 22, 2023, at the close of their meeting in Moscow, media microphones were allowed to record Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) telling Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin, “Right now there are changes — the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years — and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Widely read as Xi’s oath to create a China-Russia-dominated world order, it can be considered a high point for the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea (CRINK) informal alliance, which also included the dictatorships of Venezuela and Cuba. China enables and assists Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s
After thousands of Taiwanese fans poured into the Tokyo Dome to cheer for Taiwan’s national team in the World Baseball Classic’s (WBC) Pool C games, an image of food and drink waste left at the stadium said to have been left by Taiwanese fans began spreading on social media. The image sparked wide debate, only later to be revealed as an artificially generated image. The image caption claimed that “Taiwanese left trash everywhere after watching the game in Tokyo Dome,” and said that one of the “three bad habits” of Taiwanese is littering. However, a reporter from a Japanese media outlet
An article published in the Dec. 12, 1949, edition of the Central Daily News (中央日報) bore a headline with the intimidating phrase: “You Cannot Escape.” The article was about the execution of seven “communist spies,” some say on the basis of forced confessions, at the end of the 713 Penghu Incident. Those were different times, born of political paranoia shortly after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) relocated to Taiwan following defeat in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The phrase was a warning by the KMT regime to the local populace not to challenge its power or threaten national unity. The
Since taking office, President William Lai (賴清德) has been an active proponent of the Healthy Taiwan initiative. As a member of the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, I have also contributed recommendations on various pharmaceutical policies. After the committee concluded its seventh meeting on Saturday last week, Lai announced that the government is considering a three-year suspension on the Drug Expenditure Target (DET) system’s routine drug price surveys, highlighting the need to further support drug supply resilience. While I am supportive of this policy direction, I must also stress the importance of maintaining our original objective of improving the quality of
RSS