Sat, Feb 18, 2006 page2

• War memorial to be demolished

  ODE TO JAPAN The stone tablets in Wulai Waterfall Park have critics up in arms for eulogizing Japanese militarism, prompting an apology from officials

  • CNA
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  Taipei County Government officials said yesterday that they would order the demolition of a controversial war memorial in the county that critics say eulogizes Japanese militarism.

  Taipei County Deputy Commissioner Lee Hung-yuan (李鴻源) admitted that it was inappropriate to allow the monument to be set up on county land and apologized to the public.

  Imperial army

  

  Chiu Ke-ping, secretary-general of a memorial association for Aboriginal soldiers from Wulai, Taipei County, and who fought under the Japanese during World War II, holds up a flag used during the inauguration of a memorial for these soldiers on Feb. 8. The flag, Chiu said, is different from the Japanese flag.

  PHOTO: HUANG LI-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  At issue is a memorial at the Wulai Waterfall Park in Wulai Township (烏來) that was set up recently by a Japanese civic group on land rented from the county in commemoration of a team of Taiwan Aboriginal soldiers that fought for the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

  The structure comprises a series of stone tablets with inscriptions in Japanese that mourn the deceased soldiers, commend their bravery and sacrifice for Japan, narrate the history of the establishment of the team and express loyalty to the emperor of Japan.

  According to a local media report, many recent visitors to the park were confused by the sight of a large number of Japanese flags flying there and expressed their displeasure at the construction of the monument.

  The monument has also raised serious concern from Aboriginal Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), who visited the county government yesterday to demand that the monument be removed.

  May Chin, an independent legislator, emphasized that the Aborigines in Taiwan have the right to interpret their history, including that of their ancestors who were forced to fight for their Japanese colonial rulers, and that they cannot accept the imperialistic and militaristic concepts that the monument demonstrates.

  `Repugnant'

  May Chin added that the inscriptions on the monument are a distortion of history that is repugnant to the people of Taiwan and has hurt the Aboriginal population.

  The legislator said she will meet with Aboriginal representatives to discuss the possibility of setting up their own monument to commemorate their ancestors.

  Last year, May Chin visited Japan to demand the removal of the tablets for Taiwan's Aboriginal soldiers from the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. She also demanded that the Japanese government apologize and pay compensation for the persecution of indigenous residents during its colonial rule in Taiwan.
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