KMT to sue minister of education for negligence

At a separate setting yesterday, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said the hall's military guards who perform a change of guard every two hours for tourists, could be removed.

"As for the disposal of the statue, we can think about that. I heard that the doors of the hall can be locked up," Chen said.

Chen accuses Chiang and this KMT regime of serious violations of human rights and of oppressing democracy advocates during their five-decade-long strongarm rule of Taiwan -- which ended when Chen was elected president in 2000.

Public Construction Commission Chairman Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成) said yesterday that the government would complete an assessment about further changes to the hall.

"We will decide whether to demolish the outer walls, remove the statue of Chiang Kai-shek and remove the name board in the main gateway by the end of this year," he said.

Dozens of police guarded the new name plate at the memorial hall yesterday as local and foreign tourists snapped pictures in light rain.

A veteran soldier from China clashed with police after he was caught spitting at the hall's new name plate.

At a forum hosted by the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei yesterday, DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that changing the name of the hall was a matter of right or wrong and a sign that the country had fully adopted democratization.

"If we want to walk down the road of democracy, we must face pain and accept the changes that come with it," he said.

Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling and DPA

Also see story:
Why all the fuss about CKS Hall?