Even as funeral services for the veteran gangster Hsu Hai-ching (
"I sincerely hope that reporters will not exaggerate and praise Hsu like a hero when they cover his funeral services. What is more important is to tell the public how much his funeral services will impact local traffic or so," Yao said.
Hsu's funeral services were held at Taipei First Municipal Mortuary at noon yesterday, as more than 5,000 family members and friends -- mostly local gang members -- began to form a line outside the mortuary at 9am. Local police assigned officers to set up road blocks on the roads that surround the mortuary, which caused problems for the nearly 50,000 junior high school graduates in the city who were trying to take their high school entrance exams.
Hsu's funeral services were a veritable family reunion of Taiwan's underworld. Members of gangs such as the Bamboo Union (
Police assigned officers to videotape the entire service for further investigation and to use in the compilation of files on gang members.
According to the schedule, Hsu's ashes were brought to Taipei County's Chinpaosan cemetery at 2:30pm. At the cemetery, another 300 family members and gang members awaited Hsu's ashes to wrap up the funeral services.
Yao said that Hsu is just a gangster, but ever since he passed away in April, some newspapers and TV stations had cast him as a hero by detailing his "career" and his relationship with Japanese crime groups. In addition, extensive coverage was given to the service that Hsu's family members and gangs had been preparing for him.
"This will be a bad example for our younger generation, because they will be confused. Isn't Hsu a bad guy? So why do so many people pay their respects at his funeral?" Yao said.
"The GIO has constantly been receiving complaints regarding the news coverage of Hsu's funeral. I hope my fellow reporters can re-angle a bit when they are reporting," the minister added.
Hsu, born in 1913, was best known by the monikers "Mosquito Brother" and "The Last Arbitrator."
He died on April 6.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
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