Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that freedom in Taiwan has regressed since “a repressive government” had returned to power.
Su made the remarks at a ceremony in honor of Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), the late democracy advocate who set himself on fire 24 years ago and died in defense of “100 percent freedom of expression.”
The event took place at Deng’s tomb in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Jinbaoshan Cemetery in the morning.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
Su said it was a hard journey for Taiwanese to win the right of freedom of speech and it was made possible by people like Deng, who sacrificed himself.
Saying that 24 years ago there was no freedom in Taiwan under the then-authoritarian Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, Su said people who had suffered from political repression or harassment knew that “certain words are said at home, not outside, or you could disappear or be caught anytime.”
However, Deng did not keep his mouth closed due to fear or threats, instead he spoke out, Su said.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
Deng spoke out not only with his mouth, but also by publishing his writings, he said.
He added that although Deng’s magazine Freedom Era Weekly (自由時代週刊) was banned, and permission for publishing the weekly was suspended again and again, he reapplied repeatedly and never gave up his intention in pursue democracy and freedom for the country.
Deng requested the authoritarian government to lift martial law, mark Feb. 28 an official memorial day for the 228 Massacre, and asked for a total freedom of expression, Su said.
He added that the KMT’s seizure, investigation, detention and imprisonment of Deng was intended to challenge his determination.
However, the KMT did not succeed, and it charged him with treason.
“Twenty-four years later, as we enjoy democracy and freedom of expression, we should not forget Deng’s spirit and the difficult road we have traveled,” Su said.
“After we have democracy, people voted for the then-authoritarian governors and allowed them to retain their power,” Su said.
Now they used more delicate and sophisticated ways to oppress freedom and democracy, Su said.
Freedom in Taiwan has been regressing since the KMT returned to power in 2008, and the US-based Freedom House has also said that freedom of the press in Taiwan has regressed, Su said.
Government propaganda is brainwashing people by saying that everything in China is good, while everything Taiwanese is bad, Su said.
Dealing with the situation, “people should appreciate what we own and learn to make right judgements,” Su added.
Born in Taiwan in 1947 to a family from China, Deng on numerous occasions in the 1980s overtly articulated his support for Taiwanese independence, at a time when a charge of sedition was in place to indict proponents of independence.
He established Freedom Era Weekly in 1984.
On April 7, 1989, he set himself on fire as heavily armed police attempted to break into his Taipei office, where he had barracaded himself for 71 days after he was charged with sedition for his magazine’s anti-government stance and for publishing a draft “Republic of Taiwan constitution” in 1988.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater