As the only survivor of the infamous "Lei Chen incident" (
"I'm happy because all of those who had persecuted me are dead," Ma said jokingly, sitting in his 9th-floor apartment in Panchiao, Taipei County, on Saturday afternoon.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MA CHIH-SU
Every year on Sept. 4, the date he was arrested, Ma drinks hard liquor and laments the hardship and torture he had to endure during the Martial Law era.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MA CHIH-SU
"This year is no exception," he said. "But this time I didn't drink to bemoan but to celebrate."
On Wednesday, a full 42 years after Ma's arrest, Academia Historica published two volumes of formerly classified documents regarding the KMT government's handling of the case, together with excerpts of the 4-million-character memoir Lei wrote while in jail, which was previously rumored to have been burned.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Ma was arrested on "suspicion of involvement in rebellion" on Sept. 4, 1960 along with Lei, Fu Cheng (傅正) and Liu Tzu-ying (劉子英).
While Ma served as the manager of the magazine Free China, Lei was the publisher, Fu the editor in chief and Liu the chief accountant from the time the magazine was launched in 1950 until its termination in 1960.
The publication was once must-read material for the armed forces and Lei was also appointed to be an adviser to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
However, as the magazine's pro-democracy stance became evident, the tension between Lei and Chiang grew.
Lei was finally arrested for treason in 1960 when he tried to form an opposition party. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crimes of "harboring rebels" and "continuously issuing propaganda beneficial to rebels."
Ma received a three-year jail term in connection with Lei's treason case, while Liu received 12 years and Fu three years.
One reason for Ma to celebrate is that the Foundation for Compensation for Improper Trials During the Martial Law Era (
"It's not all about money but about effectively clearing my name as well as the names of Lei and others involved in the case," he said.
Liu's application for NT$4.5 million has also been approved, but the Lei family's request for NT$4.2 million has not yet been approved due to the family having filed their application relatively late.
Although Ma said that he is now happy, he still feels regret about not being able to see his old friends.
"If they're the engineers who make history, I'm just one small brick in a high-rise building," he said.
Although it has been a full 42 years since his arrest, Ma said he is still haunted by the incident.
"When I see a temple from a distance, the hair on the back of my neck stands up because I fear that some soldiers are hiding there watching me," he said.
Ma was arrested by the Taiwan Garrison Command (
"It was spooky. I thought I would be executed and vanish without a trace just like the victims of the 228 Incident," he said.
Ma was interrogated about his involvement in Lei's case nonstop for three days and three nights.
There were always a pair of military agents with him, one playing the good guy and the other the bad guy.
Keeping quiet
"As the bad guy was getting impatient with me, he lashed out and said, `Let me make it clear here. You're a spy and you'd better admit it because I say so. There's nothing to argue about here,'" Ma said.
Knowing that it was useless to say anything to the man, surnamed Lee, Ma said that he remained quiet.
"Let me ask you one more time," Lee said. "Under whose order were you sent to Taiwan to work as a spy?"
Ma said that it dawned on him during his interrogation that he could make up a plot in which he could play the actor and playwright as well as the director.
"OK. I admit that I was sent here by someone surnamed Lee," Ma finally said.
Lee, with his eyes wide open, appeared shocked, Ma recalled.
"What's his rank?" Lee asked.
"I don't know. How did I dare to ask?" Ma said.
"What were you sent here for?" Lee asked.
"He had sent me to create social problems and capital-labor disputes but I failed to do so," Ma said.
Ma's interrogation ended after three days because, unbeknownst to Ma, Liu had admitted to being sent to Taiwan as a spy by communist bandits and said Lei was aware of this.
Ma was held at the interrogation camp for another 43 days before he was thrown in jail to serve a three-year sentence and undergo reform through education.
Ma said he became aware he was about to be detained 10 days before his arrest.
"One of my friends had told me that they were coming to get me and that they planned to force me to admit that I was a spy so they could nab Lei for harboring rebels,'" Ma said.
He did not fall into the trap, however, because he said he wouldn't frame Lei, whom he greatly respected.
"I told him [Lei] before the arrest that I wouldn't say anything that could be used against him or admit under pressure to a crime I didn't commit," he said.
Worried about Ma's wife, who was then eight months pregnant, Lei told Ma not to say a word about his impending arrest to his wife, fearing that misgivings might harm the baby's delivery.
"The last thing I told her before I was taken away was `go to Lei, he'll try to bail me out,' not knowing that he himself had been arrested at the same time," Ma said.
42 Years of anguish
It is no easy task to be the wife of a democratic trailblazer, especially under authoritarian rule.
Ten years younger than her husband, Sha Chung-pei (沙昌佩), 69, was only 26 when Ma was arrested.
"I was devastated when he was taken away by plainclothes police," Sha said. "I didn't know what to do. We were married for only two years and I was eight months pregnant with our first child."
Their son was born about one month later. To make ends meet, Sha had to try hard to keep her job at a bank.
"At that time, women were asked to quit their jobs after getting married, not to mention after having a baby," Sha said. "I refused to quit because I needed the job. I had to pay the price of dealing with constant relocations and being blocked from promotion because I was blacklisted."
She was also under constant surveillance both at home and at work.
"I felt so alone," she said. "My friends, co-workers and family members, except for my mother who I was staying with, didn't dare to have lengthy contact with me."
Sha said that she had known from when she got married that she would encounter many difficulties because her husband was an extraordinary man.
"I had to fight against all odds to be able to be with him because few of my friends and family members approved of my marriage," she said. "We even had secret agents disguised as waiters and waitresses during our wedding banquet."
No regrets
Despite her many hardships, Sha said she had never regretted that she chose Ma.
"No, I don't regret marrying him at all, although our life together was tough in the beginning," she said. "I don't worry about whether I have a lot of money. What matters to me most is whether my children have received a good education and whether they're doing their job as good citizens."
The couple has a son and a daughter. While their son has vowed not to return to Taiwan because he said he was sick and tired of the nation's political climate, their daughter has worked as a civil servant in Taipei City.
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