Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said “students should follow the rules,” as rebellions are not always right, in reference to the storming of the Ministry of Education’s offices on Thursday night.
Hung was in Changhua County visiting supporters yesterday when she encountered several students holding banners protesting the proposed curriculum adjustments and calling on the KMT to release those arrested for their participation in the incursion at the ministry.
Hung said that the ministry cannot simply talk to a minority, adding that the curriculum adjustments are “things to be rationally discussed.”
Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times
“However, rule of law is important and should be respected in a democratic society,” Hung said, stressing that, while students might be young and therefore entitled to make mistakes, “rules still need to be followed.”
“Do not engender a perception that Taiwan is in a downward spiral toward turmoil, where rebellion always seems to be right,” Hung said to the students in Changhua, asking them to rethink whether that is what they want the nation’s future to look like.
Hung said she hoped that politicians would not add fuel to the fire or follow hidden agendas to manufacture social problems, which would not be moral.
As for the incursion, Hung said it was “definitely a no-no.”
“Allowing students to storm the Ministry of Education would be like letting enterprises raid the Ministry of Economic Affairs and workers ransack a factory. That is not what we want for this society,” Hung said, calling on students to calmly and rationally examine the problems, as growing to maturity is a process of self-learning.
“Society is not what you imagine it is,” she said.
Regarding the arrest of several reporters during the incident, Hung said that, although she was not familiar with all the details, she believes that the reporters’ rights to gather news should be respected, but that abiding by the law is a requirement for everybody.
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