Battle for free speech lies behind Chang's angst

DPP legislative whip Chang Chun-hung's (張俊宏) controversial remark about press freedom not only raised political eyebrows but also piqued the public's curiosity over the mindset of the former party chairman.

At a press conference called by former mayor of Hsinchu Tsai Jen-chien (蔡仁堅) on Saturday, Chang launched a 20-some minute tirade before a roomful of reporters and photographers who had expected Chang to shed some light on Tsai's role in the sex scandal surrounding his ex-girlfriend, former politician Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳).

But instead, Chang burst into tears as he criticized the media for abusing press freedom.

"Seeing the media abuse freedom of the press to this extent, I'd rather go back to my home in Chinmei [referring to a prison for political prisoners] where there are iron bars to protect me," said the 64-year-old native son in a rare Beijing accent.

Chang added that the media should not play God or jump to conclusions before any legal case is closed or when a case is in legal proceedings.

Dubbed the party's "theory master" by the media, Chung is the only sitting DPP lawmaker of the "Formosa generation" (美麗島世代).

When opposition parties were still outlawed during the martial law era, the "Formosa generation" built a political movement around Formosa magazine and helped push Taiwan toward democracy and away from authoritarian rule.

On Dec. 10, 1979, a state crackdown followed an anti-government parade in Kaohsiung that was organized by the magazine. The ruling KMT jailed eight people for their involvement in what later became known as the Kaohsiung Incident (美麗島事件).

The Kaohsiung Eight include Chang, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), former DPP chairmen Huang Hsin-chieh (黃信介) and Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), then office manager of Formosa, Chairwoman of the Council of Labor Affairs Chen Chu (陳菊) and theologian Lin Hung-hsuan (林弘宣).

Shortly after Chang was released from jail in 1989, the DPP was legalized. He joined the party and became the party's secretary-general.

Because of different ideals, Chang formed a party faction called Formosa, which later split into the New Era Institute and New Dynamic factions.

With a master's in political science from National Taiwan University, Chung was first a KMT member for 14 years and worked at the KMT headquarters for four years.

When the KMT was about to expel Chang because of the pro-democracy theory he advocated in the magazine he served as the editor, Chang withdrew from the party and joined yet another liberal magazine called Taiwan Politics.

The magazine, however, was short-lived. Financially desperate, Chang and his former wife, incumbent DPP lawmaker Hsu Jung-shu (許榮淑), opened an eatery in Hsimenting.

Six months into the business, the eatery went bust. The couple then moved back to Chang's hometown in Nantou County where Chang made a comeback in his political career.

In 1977, Chang announced his bid to run in the provincial councilor elections and won thanks to the KMT candidate's botched campaign strategy.

But just two years later, Chang and the seven other activists were thrown into jail.

In the meantime, Hsu was elected to the legislature and was in and out of the political limelight.

Lee Wen-chung (李文忠), a DPP legislator in the party's New Tide faction, once served as Hsu's office assistant when she was first elected to the legislature and volunteered to be the tutor of the couple's three children while Chang was serving his prison sentence.