The removal of statues of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from school campuses in Tainan has elicited the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ire, but Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) yesterday proposed removing all statues of Chiang nationwide and replacing the former president’s image on coins and the NT$200 bill.
The Tainan City Government took action on Saturday after Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) called for the removal of all statues of Chiang from school campuses in the city.
Following KMT Tainan city councilors’ denunciation yesterday of the removals, the KMT legislative caucus also took Lai to task for “taking down the statues sneakily at night during the weekend,” urging Lai to “stop manufacturing hatred.”
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
KMT deputy caucus whip Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) said schools are supposed to be autonomous on this issue and there are different perspectives from which historical figures are assessed.
“History is history; education is education,” Liao said, adding that the educational environment should not be marred by historical controversy.
KMT Legislator Chen Shu-hui (陳淑慧) called Lai’s order to remove the statues without consulting school principals, teachers or parents an “authoritarian” move.
In stark contrast to the KMT, Yao, who also held a press conference yesterday, called for an expansion of Lai’s policy to a complete sweeping away of statues of Chiang nationwide.
Yao showed copies of court verdicts on which Chiang had added his own comments and altered the sentences to executions.
It would be shameful for Taiwan if it did not remove the statues and currency commemorating a dictator, Yao said.
He voiced his support for Lai’s removal of the statues, calling it the beginning of a move to end hatred and proposed moving the largest statue of Chiang in Taipei, the one at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, to the Cihu Mausoleum in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪區).
“It’s not like we are throwing it into the ocean; those who wish to pay tribute to him can still visit Cihu,” Yao said, adding that the memorial hall without the statue could be transformed into a branch of the National Palace Museum to help solve the museum’s overcrowding problem.
Yao also proposed having the NT$1, NT$5 and NT$10 coins and the NT$200 bill, which all have an image of Chiang on them, recalled and replaced.
Chiang’s image on the money should be replaced by that of people who would help society better understand Taiwan’s democratic history, such as Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波), a renowned Taiwanese painter executed by the KMT regime in 1947, or Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who in 1989 set himself ablaze to protest against the regime’s repression of freedom of speech, Yao said.
Chuang Chu Yu-nu (莊朱玉女), a woman who sold meals for NT$10 for decades to help low-income families, who passed away earlier this month, would also be an option, Yao said.
A Department of Issuing official at the central bank, who declined to be named, said yesterday that the bank has no comment on the issue.
Additional reporting by Amy Su
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
TALKS CONTINUE: Although an agreement has not been reached with Washington, lowering the tariff from 32 percent to 20 percent is still progress, the vice premier said Taiwan would strive for a better US tariff rate in negotiations, with the goal being not just lowering the current 20-percent tariff rate, but also securing an exemption from tariff stacking, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said yesterday. Cheng made the remarks at a news conference at the Executive Yuan explaining the new US tariffs and the government’s plans for supporting affected industries. US President Donald Trump on July 31 announced a new tariff rate of 20 percent on Taiwan’s exports to the US starting on Thursday last week, and the Office of Trade Negotiations on Friday confirmed that it
RSS