Keelung became the first local government to be investigated for removing a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) amid increasing retirements of Chiang memorials nationwide, as city prosecutors ordered the city government to present financial reports about the removal of the statue from the Keelung Cultural Center in March.
Keelung District Head Prosecutor Chou Chi-yung (周啟勇) said prosecutors handling the case are exercising their powers and that the office could not reveal any details of the case.
The investigation is being conducted over alleged forgery, according to sources in the city government.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
A prosecutor said on condition of anonymity that the case might be based on reports filed by councilors or citizens who were unhappy with the removal and claimed there are problems with the funding of the removal by the city government.
Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Kao Jung-chih (高榮志) said it is “strange” that informants would accuse the city government of forgery and it is unclear whether any informants had access to any problematic documents, or if they were simply exploiting loopholes in the prosecution process to force an investigation into the removal.
The case is likely to be concluded without a prosecution, Kao said.
There has been an upsurge in the removal of Chiang statues in cities and counties run by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) following initiatives introduced by Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), with all the statues of Chiang on school campuses already removed in Tainan and Chiayi County.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), an independent, said in March that Taipei would keep the statues in place so that “people could overcome history and be their own masters.”
Ko’s remarks at the time incurred criticism from a number of groups, including Restoration of Taiwan Social Justice, which said if Chiang’s statues are to remain, descriptions detailing Chiang’s brutality should at least be set alongside them.
In March, Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) of the DPP put the statue in Keelung Cultural Center on top of a removal list, saying that the city would follow Tainan and Chiayi in removing political symbols from government offices and school campuses.
The Keelung City Government removed the statue on March 30 while the center was closed.
The removal provoked the ire of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung council caucus, which said that Lin had misplaced the focus of city management in removing the statue.
The city government said the center is a public recreational space and it was necessary to make room for more activities.
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