Fri, Dec 03, 1999 page1

• Former legal colleagues stump for Chen

  KAOHSIUNG INCIDENT Two decades ago, Chen Shui-bian was one of the legal team that took on a case no one dared touch. Yesterday, they relived their experience

  • By Irene Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  Nearly 20 years ago, DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (3?糮?/CHINESE>) was part of a team of lawyers brave enough to defend members of the opposition movement facing prosecution by a ruthless regime. Their crime was supposedly fostering violence during an anti-government parade, which came to be known as the "Kao-hsiung Incident."

  Dressed in their legal gowns yesterday, Chen appeared at a press conference with his former colleagues, most of whom went on to pursue active political careers and some of whom became household names.

  The purpose of the press conference was to show support for Chen, but the focus inevitably turned to his rival, independent candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜), who was a key official in the KMT government that had persecuted them all those years ago.

  

  The group of lawyers who defended those arrested in the Kaohsiung Incident 20 years ago sits for a reunion photo to both commemorate Huang Hsin-chieh, godfather of Taiwan's democratic movement who recently died, and also bolster support for Chen Shui-bian's, far right, presidential bid. Chen served on the group of lawyers that defended Huang from charges of sedition in 1979.

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Their reunion stirred memories of that fateful day, Dec. 10, 1979 -- International Human Rights Day.

  It all began with an anti-government parade organized by the Formosa magazine, a front for a broad alliance of tang wai (outside the party) activists. Although it had been carefully planned so as to be peaceful, the parade degenerated into violence when a confrontation occured with police. It is now widely believed that the KMT had sent in agent provocateurs to mingle with the crowd and create conflict.

  When a group of opposition leaders, who came to be known as the Kaohsiung Eight, were tried for their role in organizing the rally, few lawyers dared to take the politically charged case.

  Chen, then 29 and a highly successful maritime lawyer, was among the few who would.

  He was the youngest of the group but, as his peers were quick to point out at yesterday's commemoration a week ahead of the Incident's anniversary, he went on to become the most successful.

  "He may have been the youngest, but all of us were very impressed with his talent and determination," said Chen Chi-sen (3紕~2?/CHINESE>), who was the lead counsel on the defense team.

  "Some say he is too young to be president, which we think is unfair. Just take a look at how he's managed his past positions -- as a city councilor, a legislator, and as a mayor -- and you will know he can be trusted to be a competent president," Chen said.

  As history shows, the lawyers' efforts were in vain. The Kaohsiung Eight, who included Chen's likely running mate, Taoyuan County Commissioner Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), were convicted and imprisoned.

  But in the longer term, perhaps their case was really won in the court of public opinion. All eight became instant celebrities and, after their release from jail, continued to play an important part in Taiwan's democratic development.

  Nearly half of the defense team, meanwhile, pursued political careers after the trial, becoming the backbone of the DPP's leadership.

  Besides Chen, for whom the trial was a political baptism of fire, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇-s昌) are probably the best-known at present.

  Their reunion yesterday provided a forum for not only happy memories to be shared, but also to express their natural dislike of Chen's rival for the presidency.

  The group singled out Soong particularly for his current "hypocrisy" in speaking with members of the press about the lack of respect for free speech within the KMT, as he had been serving as head of the Government Information Office at the time of the Kaohsiung Incident.

  "Soong was an assassin of Taiwan's thriving democracy," DPP legislator Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said in recollection. "He was a censor who had to suppress the truth about the Incident, to keep it away from the public. What he did caused enormous harm to the development of a free press."

  Kuo Chi-jen (3└N??/CHINESE>), another member of the defense team, pointed out that Soong had even gone so far as to railroad a member of the foreign media out of Taiwan for reporting on the ill treatment Annette Lu received in prion.

  Kuo said it was ironic that Chen and Soong, who had been standing on opposite sides of the democratic fence during the Kaohsiung Eight's trial, are now going head-to-head again, two decades later.

  Chen, the defense lawyer for DPP patriarch Huang Hsin-chieh, who died two days ago, repeatedly expressed his deep remorse yesterday, saying he would not have achieved anything if not for the inspiration given him by Huang.
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