Human rights groups yesterday slammed independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) for praising the late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) as a model politician, calling on him to apologize and demanding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has thrown its support behind Ko, clarify its position on the issue.
“Ko’s praise of Chiang’s era shows his ignorance of history and authoritarianism; and it is not just his problem, or his campaign team’s: It is the result of a lack of history and civic education in society under the shadow of an authoritarian regime,” a joint statement released by several human rights groups, including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation, Taiwan Democracy Watch, Taipei Society and the Yin Hai-guang Foundation.
The statement said that while it is not easy to judge a politician, it is impossible to make a correct judgement without understanding the history and reflecting on the impact of authoritarianism, for such a regime is built on the lives and sacrifices of innumerable individuals and families, which cannot be balanced out by any achievements.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The groups said that although Chiang appeared to be close to the public, people should not forget that he had assisted his father, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), in persecuting dissidents and turning Taiwan into a “prison island.”
“As Chiang Ching-kuo rose to power after his father’s death, he continued to repress democracy activists and dissidents, and was behind the assassination of dissident writer Chiang Nan (江南), the murders of dissident Lin Yi-hsiung’s (林義雄) twin daughters and mother, and the murder of dissident Chen Wen-cheng (陳文成),” the statement said.
“The Formosa Incident in 1979 severely harmed the democracy movement in Taiwan, and after lifting martial law, Chiang Ching-kuo continued his authoritarian regime by drafting the so-called ‘three national security laws’ and retaining many Martial-Law period laws that constitute human rights violations,” it said.
Besides political persecution, there were also various scandals involving officials in Chiang Ching-kuo’s government, the groups said.
“We therefore call on Ko to officially apologize and retract his antidemocratic remarks,” they said.
The groups also called on the DPP, which decided not to nominate a candidate for the Taipei mayoral election and endorsed Ko instead, to clarify its stance on Ko’s remarks.
“The DPP has nominated a victim of the Formosa Incident in southern Taiwan, while supporting a candidate who praises the perpetrator of the incident. It should clarify to the public whether it also endorses the view on history and democracy of the candidate that it supports,” the statement said.
By “victim of the Formosa Incident,” the group was referring to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), one of the democracy activists arrested in 1979.
Ko drew fire earlier in the week by posting a message on Facebook page praising Chiang Ching-kuo for his “strict regulations on the relations between officials and businesses,” while also saying that Chiang had made more contributions than problems for the nation.
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