On the eve of the 72nd anniversary of the 228 Incident, an independence campaigner known as Chilly Chen (陳峻涵) hurled bags of rice porridge with squid at the main statue at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei.
Chen stepped over the cordon in front of the bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) before throwing two bags at it and reportedly shouting “Chiang Kai-shek is an evil mass murderer” into a microphone before being tackled by police.
In January, veteran entertainer Lisa Cheng (鄭心儀) slapped Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) in the face during a banquet, angered by the minister’s talk of abolishing the memorial.
Chen and Lisa Cheng’s actions were the latest in a long line of protests and political incidents over what to do with the shrine to Chiang whose main feature is the 6.3m statue. The government urgently needs to settle on a plan.
Many in the pan-green camp view Chiang as a tyrant with blood-soaked hands and are adamant that all iconography related to him should be expunged from public spaces, while many in the pan-blue camp have argued that while grave mistakes were made, without the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) fortification of Taiwan against a Chinese invasion, it would have long ago been subjugated by Beijing.
The nation remains deeply divided over how to interpret Chiang’s legacy for future generations.
However, there is one way to resolve this conundrum that could satisfy those on both sides of the political spectrum: Turn the memorial hall into a space honoring Taiwan’s presidents, as former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) has suggested.
Space considerations would mean that the massive bronze statue of Chiang would have to be replaced with a smaller one, but keeping the memorial hall and a more modest statue of Chiang should be far more palatable to the pan-blue camp than comprehensively repurposing or demolishing the structure, as some have demanded.
Each statue would be of equal height and could flank the walls of the chamber in chronological order.
A smaller statue of Chiang could be joined by one of his son former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), as well as those of other former presidents after their deaths.
The building could be renamed the “Presidents’ Memorial Hall” and the popular ceremonial military guards could be retained to guard the statues of all past presidents, not just that of Chiang Kai-shek.
Although Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) last month backed Lu’s idea, Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-i (林萬億) on Wednesday last week said that no decision would be made about the memorial hall any time soon.
The government needs to stop prevaricating.
Transforming the memorial hall into a presidents’ memorial would go a long way toward healing old wounds and provide a focal point to celebrate Taiwan’s transition to democracy.
It is the only feasible way to put this long-running issue to bed.
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