The daughter of a top Uighur activist and the wife of a Taiwanese democracy pioneer yesterday shared stories of the Uighur and Taiwanese struggles for freedom.
Raela Tosh, daughter of World Uyghur Congress (WUC) president Rebiya Kadeer, met former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) during a visit to a museum dedicated to her husband, Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), on the last day of Tosh’s four-day stay in Taiwan.
The museum, formerly the office of the pro-democracy magazine Freedom Era Weekly founded by Deng in the 1980s, was also the site where Deng set himself on fire in 1989, when police tried to arrest him after he was charged with sedition following the magazine’s publication of a draft “Republic of Taiwan constitution” in 1988.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yeh took over her husband’s mission and became involved in politics.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Tosh toured the museum, and then sat down with Yeh to watch a documentary on Deng’s campaign for freedom of speech and Taiwanese independence, and his death.
Yeh and Tosh became very emotional during the movie and both were in tears at the end.
“You must be wondering why I cried,” Tosh said after taking more than 10 minutes to calm herself down. “I actually could understand only about 30 percent of the subtitles because it’s in old [traditional] Chinese and I can only read simplified Chinese. But even with that 30 percent, the images were so strong that I just could not stop myself.”
“I can’t say our family situation is similar because no one has died in my family, but it’s going there,” she said. “I can see my family could be in that category. My mom came out of the prison, but my brothers are still in prison [and] I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the future.”
Tosh called Deng’s story a very inspiring one for Uighurs, as well as to everyone fighting for the cause of freedom, describing it like a “light in a tunnel.”
CHINESE THREAT
Tosh said she had been well-received by Taiwanese and felt that Taiwanese and Uighurs are on the same boat facing threats from China.
“By coming to Taiwan I really, you know, have the feeling that we’ll probably work together in the future for a long time,” she said.
Tosh said that her mother would eventually visit Taiwan, but that Kadeer would never apply for a visa while the current government is still in power.
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