Three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors risked jail time after climbing onto the roof of the East Gate in Taipei City yesterday and slapping white paint over the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) emblem in protest against what they said was a “symbol of dictatorship.”
Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄), Liu Yao-ren (劉耀仁) and Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群) accused Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs last week of taking advantage of repair work on the East Gate — also known as Jingfu Men — and three other historical gates to paint the KMT’s emblem.
They climbed the scaffolding yesterday morning to paint over the white-and-blue emblem.
PHOTO: CNA
“The KMT emblem did not appear on the gate during the Qing Dynasty. What we are doing today is restoring the monument to its original appearance ... Goodbye to the KMT emblem,” Chuang said.
Huang criticized the city government and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration for seeking to restore dictatorship and one-party rule.
The councilors later showed the “tools” they used for the operation, including white paint, brushes and white protest banners, and ridiculed the police department for failing to protect the monument and to stop them.
“We didn’t know how much time we would have to paint out the emblem, but as it turns out no police were there to stop us, so we took our time to complete our restoration work,” Huang said.
The Department of Cultural Affairs began restoration work on the East Gate, the South Gate, the Little South Gate and the North Gate earlier this year with a budget of NT$7 million (US$215,000).
Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) said the KMT emblems were first carved and painted in 1955 when the KMT modified the Qing Dynasty gates.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) accused the DPP councilors of damaging the historical monument and said the city government would bring them to justice.
“We must all be humble before national monuments. Even as a mayor, I cannot order the department to make the emblem disappear. DPP councilors had no right to express their views in such a manner,” Hau said after presiding over a municipal meeting.
Lee said the councilors violated Article 21 of the Culture Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), which stipulates that any restoration work on national monuments should be done according to their original appearance.
The three could face up to five years in jail or fines up to NT$1 million.
It would be inappropriate to paint the KMT emblem on the gates if the symbol was not there originally, Hau said. As such, the city government invited all city councilors and experts to discuss the matter in a public hearing today, he said.
The three DPP councilors should express their opinion at the public hearing rather than by defacing monuments, he said.
The city government will take the results of the public hearings and share them with the Council of Cultural Affairs, which will make a final decision on the matter, Hau said.
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