A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator lashed out at the Taipei City Government yesterday for adopting double standards in attempting to protect the Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall.
Double standards
At a news conference she called at the Legislative Yuan, DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said that in order to block the demolition of the wall surrounding the CKS Memorial Hall -- as decided by the Cabinet last Friday when it announced that the hall will be renamed "Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" -- the Taipei City Government had demonstrated a "double standards mentality" on the protection of historical sites.
Lin said the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs had scrambled on Tuesday to have the CKS Memorial Hall temporarily declared a heritage site in a desparate attempt to protect the hall's outer wall from being torn down.
Review
Department director Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) said on Tuesday that at the request of several residents and historians, the department had begun a review of the memorial's historical and cultural significance in accordance with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Law (文化資產保存法).
With the review process in progress, the hall has been temporarily designated a heritage site and therefore cannot be altered, Lee said.
Lin claimed that the city government was using double standards by moving to protect the outer wall of the CKS Memorial Hall -- which is only 27 years old -- while planning to tear down the wall around the Confucius Temple in Talungtung (大龍峒), which is nearly 200 years old, a plan dating back to when Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was mayor.
Approachable
Ma had agreed that the wall around the Confucius Temple should be torn down "to make it more approachable for the public," Lin said.
On Saturday, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the plan to tear down the wall around CKS Memorial Hall required the approval of the city government.
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