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Statue's removal raises questions

People First Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Wang Lin-chiao, right, places a portrait of dictator Chiang Kai-shek on her desk during a city council session yesterday after singing a paean to Chiang, a move that made Democratic Progressive Party Councilor Cheng Kuang-feng, left, laugh so hard that he cried. PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday said she did not issue the administrative order to remove late dictator Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) statue from the city's culture center on March 12 out of hatred.

Taking questions during an impromptu session of the Kaohsiung City Council yesterday, Chen said she decided to move the statue for three reasons: to separate politics from culture; because the authoritarian era has ended and to promote ethnic harmony.

Chen said the 228 Incident in 1947 had done great harm to Taiwanese society and since the authoritarian era had ended, she did not think symbols of the era should continue to exist in Kaohsiung.

She said removing the statue from the main hall of the city's culture center also meant the main hall could be used as an exhibition venue for art shows.

People who want to commemorate Chiang could visit the Chiang Kai-shek Statue Park in Dashi (大溪) Township, Taoyuan County, where the statue was relocated, she said.

Chen and other city government staff were obliged to report to the City Council yesterday about how the city government handled the removal of the statue on March 12.

In another unscheduled session of the City Council on Monday pan-blue city councilors accused the city government of defacing public property during the removal because the statue of Chiang was cut into 79 pieces.

Deputy Kaohsiung Mayor Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) told the city council yesterday that the Dashi Township Office had agreed to negotiate with the Kaohsiung City Government about how the statue should be stored.

Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Po-lin (黃柏霖), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member, said that the decision to move the statue was made too hastily.

Chen ordered the removal on the night of March 12, after the city government had passed a draft bill that morning to enable it to rename the culture center and to remove symbols of Chiang.

Huang said he would propose a probe into the decision making process and the statue's removal. He said he might sue the city government if it were found to have violated any regulations.
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