Chen compares himself to Nobel prize winner

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday praised visiting Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka for his literary achievements and his contribution to Nigeria's democratic development.

"Mr. Soyinka is not only a poet, dramatist, novelist, commentator and scholar, but also a freedom fighter for the African people, a political leader, and, moreover, a human-rights defender," Chen said. "We must follow his perseverance and fearlessness."

Chen, speaking at the Presidential Office, said he admires the courage of the winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature, who was invited to attend the 2003 Taipei International Book Exhibition.

"The book exhibition is glorious not because it is the greatest one in its history but because of Mr. Soyinka's attendence," Chen said.

He said he has experiences similar to Soyinka's, noting that when the writer won the Nobel Prize in 1986, he was jailed by his government, who cooked up charges against his pursuit of freedom of speech.

"The age of 31 was also significant for both of us," Chen said.

"At that age, I formally started my political career after being elected as a Taipei City councilor," he said. "At the same age, Mr. Soyinka was arrested in 1965 because he bravely broke into a radio station and put a gun toward the head of the broadcaster to demand he announce the real result of an election."

The broadcaster had been told to announce a phony victory for the ruling party, Chen said, but Soyinka paid for his moral courage by being detained.

"From 1967 to 1969, Soyinka was jailed as a political prisoner. But in his cell, Soyinka completed his Poems from Prison on tissue paper and cartons that later won him the Nobel Prize," he said.

Chen said that many people who don't know Taiwan well always think that the cross-strait relationship is dangerous and that the country is on the verge of war, but the arrival of Soyinka will show how strong the nation's feelings are about freedom.

Soyinka said that he was impressed by Taiwan's achievements and did not feel the cross-strait situation to be as tense as he had imagined it would be.

Soyinka said that he feels something special every time he meets those who have "graduated from prison university," adding that he admires Chen's efforts to fight for democracy.

"Both Taiwan and Nigeria opposed the dictator and endeavored to get freedom and enjoy the freedom now," Soyinka said.

He said Taiwan now shows pluralism in many aspects.