The Presidential Office yesterday denied that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had reneged on his promise to issue memorial coins in commemoration of democracy trailblazer Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水).
Paul Chang (張國葆), acting director-general of the Presidential Office's Department of Public Affairs, said Ma wrote Chiang's family a letter asking for their consent to use the image of the democracy pioneer after the central bank informed Ma of its plan to issue memorial coins in honor of the president and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) after they were elected last year.
“The president thought it would be a better idea to consider using the image of those who contributed to Taiwan's democratic development,” Chang said.
In September last year, Ma praised Chiang as “a great man of Taiwan,” saying that studying the life and times of Chiang was a good way to promote Taiwanese identity.
Chiang, who founded the nation's first political party, the Taiwan People's Party (台灣民眾黨), formed the Taiwan Culture Association (台灣文化協會) with a group of intellectuals in October 1921.
Its aim was to awaken Taiwanese consciousness through cultural enlightenment. Chiang was imprisoned more than 10 times for defying orders from the Japanese regime. He died of typhoid in 1931, at the age of 40.
Chang yesterday said the central bank told the president that it would “solicit public opinion” about Ma's proposal and deal with the matter “in accordance with the law and regulations.”
Once the procedure is completed, it will send the recommendation to the Executive Yuan for approval, Chang said.
Chang made the remarks in response to reporters' questions about a report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) yesterday.
The report said the Chiang family was upset and felt they had been deceived because while they had agreed to Ma's proposal to use Chiang's portrait for the coins about one-and-a-half years ago, the matter was still unresolved.
Chang said the media should ask the central bank when it planned to present the proposal to the Executive Yuan, adding that he believed it would come sooner or later.
Chang said Ma only made the recommendation and that the president would respect the central bank's decision.
RSS