President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday bowed and apologized to political dissidents and their families for the abuses of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government during the White Terror era, adding that he would handle such matters more delicately after some dissidents criticized the government for embellishing the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial Park with contentious art.
Speaking at the park’s opening ceremony yesterday morning, Ma said the location, which used to house the Jingmei military detention center, witnessed the development of democracy in Taiwan.
Ma also pledged to take more action to protect human rights.
PHOTO: CNA
“These human rights and democracy fighters played important roles in Taiwan’s history. I am here to give my sincerest apology to those victims who were wrongly accused and persecuted,” Ma said at the ceremony.
Taipei’s Jingmei military detention center was used to hold political dissidents during the White Terror era and after the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 before they were sent to prison or to be executed.
The White Terror era covers the period when martial law was declared on May 19, 1949, and July 15, 1987, when it was lifted. The Kaohsiung Incident refers to Dec. 10, 1979, when the KMT government cracked down and imprisoned participants in an anti-government parade organized by Formosa Magazine.
Some of the dissidents and their family members, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Chen Chia-chun (陳嘉君), wife of former political prisoner Shih Ming-teh (施明德), were invited to attend the ceremony yesterday.
Chen was arrested on Thursday for trying to damage an art display to protest against what she said represented the government’s efforts to honor the old KMT regime. She criticized artist Yu Wen-fu (游文富) for commemorating Wang Hsi-ling (汪希苓), former head of the Military Intelligence Bureau, by displaying his work where Wang was kept under house arrest for ordering the murder of Chinese-American writer Henry Liu (劉宜良) in 1984.
Ma yesterday acknowledged the government’s lack of understanding and respect for the victims’ feelings and said he would ensure that such matters are handled more appropriately.
Chen Chia-chun left the ceremony immediately after Ma made his speech and remained critical of his administration.
“Ma says one thing and does another … The government wasted money and invited artists to commemorate a killer in the park. How is that supposed to make us, the victims and their families, feel?” she said.
Outside the ceremony, several protesters shouted “Ma Ying-jeou is not qualified to talk about human rights!” and protested against Ma’s participation at the ceremony.
After the ceremony, Lu, who was among those who were detained at the center, walked with Ma around the park and showed him the cell where she was held.
“If you have heard people praise Taiwan as a nation that protects human rights, you should feel ashamed because the regime you served failed to do that,” she told Ma.
“You were working in the Presidential Office when I was in prison … Human rights is not about lip service but countless lives,” she said.
Ma acknowledged that the then government was “inhumane” for refusing to allow Lu to attend the funeral service of her mother, adding that his administration would work harder to protect human rights and restore historical truths.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS