Citizens fight government
On Aug. 12, the Liberty Times published the story “Citizen Action Coalition 1985: Citizens should not be treated with selective justice.” The article said that the core value of the coalition is summed up by the word “citizen.”
It is very impressive that the coalition will not only fight in the Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) case, but also will fight against the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), the forced demolitions in Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南), the cross-strait service trade agreement and other issues. They are continuously fighting for justice.
According to the then-supreme commander Douglas MacArthur’s Allied command in 1945, the Republic of China (ROC) government could use military force to occupy Taiwan. The ROC government then suppressed and injured Taiwanese through the imposition of martial law, authoritarian rule, the 228 Massacre and the subsequent White Terror era.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took large industries and estates left over from the Japanese government as their own party assets. They used them to control local factions, bribe politicians, manipulate public opinion and to paralyze Taiwanese. That is why Taiwanese prefer to maintain the “status quo” instead of being the masters of their own country.
It is touching when young people stand up to protest and yell: “Forget the government” over injustices like the Hung case, the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, Dapu and the service trade agreement.
Within the corrupt ROC system, Taiwanese can only carry on bitter lives without justice and equality.
To those Democratic Progressive Party members and others who have visited China: What is your purpose in visiting China? Are you trying to save Taiwan or do you only seek personal gain and an official position?
“Citizens Action Coalition 1985” advocates that citizens should not be treated with selective justice. I think that we should use justice to solve Taiwan’s problems. This is the only way that Taiwanese can truly live with dignity.
How do we dismantle the government? We need to find a way to mend the root cause of Taiwan’s illness, not just treat its symptoms.
A quarter of a million young Taiwanese showed themselves willing to stand up to face injustice. Such displays give me hope. I hope that the executive team of the coalition will work wisely to find the disease, conduct in-depth research to navigate a future for Taiwan under international law and use that law to fight for Taiwan’s international status and national sovereignty.
Then, we Taiwanese will truly have our own country.
Yang Liu Hsiu-hwa
Taipei
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