Thu, Dec 09, 1999 page8

• Huang was a man for all seasons

  • Wang Chien-chuang
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  Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the Kaohsiung Incident (美麗島事件). But unfortunately, Huang Hsin-chieh (黃信??/CHINESE>), the godfather of Taiwan's democratic movement, died just before the approach of this memorable day.

  For the younger generation in Taiwan, the Kaohsiung Incident is like history from ancient times. They've heard about it, but don't know exactly what it is. They have no idea what role the Kaohsiung Incident plays in the development of Taiwan's democratic movement.

  Looking back at our history, one can see that Taiwan went through a lot of historic changes in the 1970s. The following is a chronology of events during that period of time.

  In 1976, Huang founded the Taiwan Political Review (台灣政?), which was banned after only five issues.

  In 1977, the "tangwai" people won an unprecedented success in a local election. At the same time, suspicions over the KMT's rigging of elections caused the eruption of the Chungli Incident (??3/4?ぁ?/CHINESE>).

  In 1978's election for an expanded quota of elected officials at the central government level, for the first time, the tangwai people campaigned for their candidates using a more organized strategy. But the election was called off because the US cut off official ties with Taiwan.

  In January of 1989, Yu Teng-fa (余登發) and his son Yu Jui-yen (余瑞言) were arrested because of a fabricated accusation by the Taiwan Garrison Command (警3そ`3?/CHINESE>) of involvement in sedition with Chinese spy Wu Tai-an (吳泰|w). The next day, Hsu Hsin-liang (3信良) and Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) started a demonstration in Chiaotou (橋頭), Kaohsiung County. In August, Huang Hsin-chieh launched Formosa magazine, and started to set up offices islandwide to turn tangwai into "a party without a name."

  In September, staff members of a right-wing magazine called Chifeng (疾-溘艭x) and those of Formosa magazine (美麗島雜誌) confronted each other.

  This was the so-called Magnolia Hotel incident (??泰賓館事件).

  The series of incidents that took place in the 1970s critically strained relations between the KMT's right wing and the tangwai people. Anti-KMT voices continued rising. In the beginning, the right wing fought back with peripheral organizations.

  But when the Kaohsiung Incident occurred, the KMT finally suppressed the opposition with police, military and secret service forces.

  More than 50 of the tangwai leaders were arrested and jailed.

  The Kaohsiung Incident also served as a turning point in the rise of the KMT right wing. Events such as the murders of Lin I-hsiung's family members, Chen Wen-cheng (3?憰? and Chiang Nan (|翰n) -- as well as the increasing influence of Wang Sheng (?y揪@) -- revealed the abusive power of the KMT's right wing, the police and military forces.

  It was at this time that Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) determined to purge the KMT's right wing.

  Huang Hsin-chieh was the leader in all of these historic events. If one was to compare Huang with other tangwai activists, Shih Ming-teh would be seen as more aggressive and Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏) as more resourceful.

  Being neither highly-educated nor too active, Huang stood out by the force of his extraordinary personality and charm.

  He was over 60 when he was released from prison.

  His recent death symbolized the end of a special era in Taiwan.

  I remember well the day when Huang was released from jail. He refused to leave the prison because he knew Shih Ming-teh was still in there.

  He said to a jail officer, "Damn it! They arrested us at will and released us at will. Have you ever seen such a thing in this world?"

  The remark shows the heroic mettle that made him such a memorable, lovable man.

  Wang Chien-chuang is president of The Journalist magazine.
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