Pro-democracy magazine Neo Formosa Weekly (蓬萊島雜誌) is set to resume publication in electronic form on Sept. 9 after a more than 20-year gap, with the aim of revitalizing the agenda of an independent republic, an open letter by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday.
The magazine had the same English name as former pro-democracy Formosa Magazine (美麗島雜誌), whose closure in 1979 occurred in the buildup to the Kaohsiung Incident, a turning point in Taiwan’s political history.
Chen, honorary chairman of the magazine, said in an open letter that the resumption of the publication is motivated by a continuation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) political persecution.
Launched in 1984, Neo Formosa Weekly was forced to stop publishing after four issues.
Chen, then-president of the magazine, was imprisoned for publishing an article that said former New Party lawmaker Elmer Feng’s (馮滬祥) doctoral dissertation was plagiarized.
Feng filed a libel charge against the magazine. While Chen’s appeal against the conviction was pending, he left his post as a Taipei City councilor and returned to his home county of Tainan to run for county commissioner.
Chen lost the election by a handful of votes but supporters suspected vote-rigging on the part of electoral authorities.
Chen’s office yesterday released the open letter signed by Chen and Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), former Presidential Official deputy secretary-general under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, who now serves as the president of Formosa Magazine.net.
In jail again, the former president said he hoped his incarceration would speed up the pace of the campaign of establishing a “new and independent state.”
Since the KMT returned to power on May 20 last year, the former president said President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China-friendly policy has plunged Taiwan’s sovereignty into an unprecedented crisis, forcing the 23 million people of Taiwan to march down the road of “one China” and “unification.”
“We can no longer keep silent,” he said. “We must come out and say: Taiwan is Taiwan. China is China. Taiwan and China are two different countries on either side of the Taiwan Strait.”
He said Formosa Magazine.net would defend the former DPP administration’s eight years in power. It is not a platform for die-hard independence activists but an on-line communication channel that welcomes those striving for a better future for Taiwan, Chen said.
The Ketagalan Foundation, founded by Chen, said they hoped to update the publication every three to seven days. A weekly color, hard copy will also be published. While the first issue will be free, the following editions will mainly be available by subscription with some free copies.
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