Student activist Dai Lin (林冠華) is to be posthumously commemorated in the “Taiwanese Pantheon (台灣神)” in a park owned by the Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation, foundation spokesperson Liau Kian-tshiau (廖建超) said yesterday.
Lin, who was a second-year student at the continuing studies division of the New Taipei Municipal Juang Jing Vocational High School, was found dead on July 30 in an apparent suicide at his family’s residence in New Taipei City. As a former member of the Northern Taiwan Anti-Curriculum Changes Alliance, Lin’s suicide is believed to be a protest against the Ministry of Education’s controversial adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines.
Lin will be honored by a monument in the Tati Foundation’s Taiwan Holy Mountain Ecological Educational Park in Caotun Township (草屯), Nantou County, which is to be unveiled on Sept. 26, Liau said.
Lin is the eighth activist to have a monument erected in his honor in the park, Liau said.
The foundation has invited pro-democracy and pro-independence luminaries such as historian and martial-rule era revolutionary Su Beng (史明) and historian and former minister of education Tu Cheng-shen (杜正勝) to the unveiling ceremony, Liau said.
Lin’s name will be inscribed on the park’s wall of memorial, which bears the names of others such as Lin Mao-seng (林茂生), Cheng Cheng-po (陳澄波) and Lei Chen (雷震), intellectuals who were executed, imprisoned or otherwise persecuted in the past.
Liau said that the young activist had “sacrificed his life for a righteous cause,” and was “a pioneer” in the movement against the “Chinese colonialist textbook guidelines,” making him an “exemplary figure” the Taiwanese Pantheon was established to celebrate.
“Dai Lin had inspired many more young students to learn authentic Taiwanese history, geography and its pluralistic culture,” Liau said.
The monument will be erected on Democracy Square in the center of Taiwan Holy Mountain park, and is to incorporate a sand-blasted photographic portrait of Lin, Liau said.
Other people of note who are to attend the ceremony include former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Tien Tsai-ting (田再庭) and former representative to Japan Koh Se-kai (許世楷).
Liau said the Formosa Song (福爾摩沙頌) and Island’s Sunrise (島嶼天光), songs that have seemingly become anthems of Taiwan’s protest movements, will be sung at the ceremony.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”