A museum dedicated to independence activist Ong Iok-tek (王育德) yesterday opened at his former residence in Tainan, where he lived with his elder brother Ong Iok-lim (王育霖).
Born in 1924, Ong Iok-tek was a spiritual leader and forerunner of the Taiwanese independence movement in Japan. He was also an expert on the Hoklo language (commonly known as Taiwanese).
Ong Iok-lim, who was born in 1919, was the first Taiwanese prosecutor in the Japanese Empire.
Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times
After World War II, he returned to Taiwan and served as a prosecutor in Hsinchu City, but resigned after investigating then-Hsinchu mayor Kuo Shao-tsung (郭紹宗) for corruption.
Ong Iok-lim was killed during the 228 Incident in 1947.
In 1949, Ong Iok-tek fled to Japan through Hong Kong with only one suitcase in hand.
In 1960, while in Japan, he founded the Taiwan Youth Society, a political group that published a magazine titled Taiwan Youth (台灣青年).
In 1969, he received a doctorate from the University of Tokyo for his studies on Hoklo, becoming the first person to do so.
In 1974, he began campaigning for the rights of Taiwanese who had served in the Japanese military during the Japanese colonial era, but died of a heart attack in 1985, at the age of 61, before he could see the result of his efforts.
In 1986, the Japanese government passed a resolution to pay ￥2 million (US$18,017 at the current exchange rate) to each of the families of the Taiwanese soldiers who were killed in combat or to survivors who had been severely injured.
In 2002, Avanguard Publishing House published the complete works of Ong Iok-tek in Chinese.
Originally written in Japanese, Taiwan: A History of Agonies (台灣 — 苦悶的歷史), which has also been translated into English, is one of Ong Iok-tek’s most important works and is made up of 15 volumes.
Ong Iok-tek’s 93-year-old wife, Wang Mei-hsueh (王雪梅), daughter Wang Ming-lee (王明理) and granddaughter Aya Kondo, as well as other family members, traveled from Japan to attend yesterday’s plaque hanging and opening ceremony at the museum.
Several Japanese reporters were also present.
Many of Ong Iok-tek’s personal belongings are exhibited at the museum, including the suitcase he carried when he fled Taiwan, his report cards from school, photographs, manuscripts and clothing.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
RSS