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Council for Hakka Affairs to remove Sun's last words

The Council for Hakka Affairs has decided to remove a copy of Sun Yat-sen's (孫逸仙) last words from its office wall, calling it an outdated practice.

The council made the decision during a meeting held on Friday after council member Liu Yi-hsiung (劉一雄) proposed the motion.

"Everyone agreed to the motion unanimously," said council Chairman Lee Yung-teh (李永得), who presided over the meeting.

Sun was the founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which was involved in a series of revolts that finally put an end to the imperialist system in China in 1912.

It has been a tradition for government agencies to display the last words of Sun, along with his portrait and the national flag.

However, the council wanted to stop what it called an "outdated" tradition.

"The display of [Sun's] last words was a way to show the ruler's power during authoritarian rule in the past," Lee told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview yesterday.

"In addition, some lines in [Sun's] last words such as `the revolution is yet to be completed, comrades shall carry it on' are obviously outdated," Lee said.

Lee said the move would not involve any legal issues since "regulations only stipulate the display of the national flag, portraits of Sun Yat-sen and the president, not Sun's last words," he said.

"Even if the move were illegal, we would protest to the responsible government agency and push for a change in the regulations," he said.

The regulations refer to the Ministry of the Interior's Guidelines Governing the Display of the National Flag, Images of Sun Yat-sen and Portraits of the President (國旗國父遺像及元首玉照懸掛要點).

Cabinet spokesman Chen Ching-chun (陳景峻) yesterday said the Cabinet was unaware of the development and did not know if other Cabinet agencies would follow suit.
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