A former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman and political prisoner arrested after the Formosa Incident in 1979 yesterday claimed that several DPP politicians, including former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former premiers Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), were Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spies in the democracy movement at the time.
“Undercover KMT secret agents were everywhere at the time, so it wouldn’t be surprising that there were KMT spies among us,” Shih Ming-teh (施明德) told a press conference yesterday to release his new book on the historic event and military trial of opposition leaders.
Also known as the Kaohsiung Incident, the Formosa Incident referred to a mass demonstration organized by Formosa Magazine (美麗島雜誌) for International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, 1979, in Kaohsiung City that ended in violent clashes between demonstrators and police.
Formosa Magazine was one of the major magazines run by the opposition. It published articles critical of the authoritarian KMT regime and organized lectures to discuss issues related to freedom, democracy and human rights.
After clashes that day, the government began to chase down opposition leaders — including Shih; Lin I-hsiung (林義雄); Chen Chu (陳菊), the current Kaohsiung City mayor, and Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who went on to become vice president — and charged them with sedition.
Despite pressure from the then-KMT government, several lawyers — including Chen, Hsieh, Su and Chang — stood up to form a team of attorneys to defend the arrested political dissidents.
The Formosa Incident is considered one of the most important events in Taiwan’s struggle for democracy because in the years following the incident, pressure grew on the then-KMT government to lift martial law and its bans on the establishment of new political parties and newspapers, leading to the country’s democratization.
Shih yesterday said he published the book because he wanted to expose as many facts about the Formosa Incident as possible. He said ultimately the government would make public all the files that are held behind sealed doors.
The press conference was held at the Jingmei Human Rights and Cultural Park in Taipei, which was formerly the site of a military prison and courthouse where many political prisoners — including Shih himself — were once tried and jailed.
“I never thought that I would revisit the trial scene alive,” said Shih, who was jailed for 10 years after being convicted of sedition for the Formosa Incident.
Shih said he “reasonably suspects” that more than one of the attorneys who defended the political prisoners in court was a KMT spy.
“I’ve said earlier that Hsieh was a KMT spy, and now I suspect that Chen, Su and Chang were also undercover KMT agents because the DPP did not make public all the state files about the incident, and could not provide me with information about the incident when I asked for it,” Shih said.
Shih said he was convinced spies were involved, not only because several former intelligence officers had said so, but also because Hsieh did not seem very eager to defend his name.
“If you [Hsieh] were a mercenary working for a foreign regime in its repression of the opposition at the time, then you are a traitor to Taiwan,” Shih said.
“I’ve said it openly before and it’s a very serious accusation against you, Mr Frank Hsieh, so you should have filed a [slander] lawsuit [against me],” he said.
Rebutting Shih’s claim, DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) at a separate setting yesterday called for respect for the lawyers who “risked their lives and put their families in danger” to defend the defendants in the Formosa Incident.
“Please stop mistrusting each other,” Tien said in a message to Shih.
Tien was an assistant to Lin at the time and helped families of the defendants organize a group of 15 defense attorneys.
She said Shih “didn’t know how the group of defense attorneys was organized” because he was in jail at the time and his wife at the time, Linda Arrigo, was forced by the KMT regime to leave the country.
“Finding attorneys [to agree to take the case] was not as easy as Shih said,” Tien said.
“I accompanied many families of the defendants to talk to lawyers and we were turned down many times by many lawyers,” Tien said, adding that it took great courage to step forward and defend the defendants at that time.
“The wives of the defense attorneys lived in fear 24 hours a day, worrying about the safety of their husbands and children,” she said.
Tien said that Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄) — who defended Lin in the case — invited Chen to join the group.
“We hoped to find two lawyers for each defendant, but we could not find [late DPP chairman] Huang Hsin-chieh (黃信介) a second lawyer,” Tien said. “Chang used the name list in an attorney book to find someone and suggested trying Chen, who he said was young, but excellent.”
Tien said Shih should ask the opinions of other defense lawyers at the time for their view on Chen, Hsieh and Su’s loyalty toward the pro-democracy camp.
“If [the DPP heavyweights] had really been spies for the KMT regime, these other defense lawyers would have found out because in the group, everyone was closely scrutinized by each other,” she said.
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
RSS