President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday inaugurated a human-rights fund established to commemorate democracy pioneer Lei Chen (雷震), who was accused of sedition and sentenced to 10 years in prison for publishing a magazine trumpeting democracy in 1960.
Yesterday marked the 27th anniversary of Lei's death.
Chen called on the public to emulate the values which Lei epitomized in the face of hardship.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
"We admire Lei, who was a liberalist and nationalist. He had the courage to stand up to an authoritarian regime and fought for freedom, democracy and human rights at the expense of his own life," Chen said.
Like many intellectuals at the time, Chen said, Lei had been torn between political ideals and a sense of nationalism. However, Lei abandoned nationalism and chose democracy, freedom, human rights and a new constitutional system. In 1972, he proposed founding the "Republic of Chinese Taiwan" and enacting a new constitution.
"He was like a prophet who realized that Taiwan at the time had more leeway and better opportunities to develop democracy than dictatorial China," Chen said.
"Democratization is a long and winding road. You can only march forward; you can neither look back, nor stand still," Chen said at the inauguration of the Lei Chen Charity Trust Democracy and Human Rights Fund yesterday.
Chen has donated NT$30 million (US$924,000) to the fund out of his own pocket.
Lei, a founder and publisher of the Free China Journal, was arrested on Sept. 4, 1960, on treason charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison at the behest of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (
Declassified documents have shown that the Taiwan Garrison Command proposed drastic measures to terminate publication of the journal. Six hours before the verdict was handed down, Chiang issued an order that Lei's sentence should not be less than 10 years, and that the first ruling may not be changed on appeal.
During his 10 years in jail, Lei wrote a 4-million-word memoir chronicling his life and thoughts on democracy. However, the memoir and most government documents regarding the infamous "Lei Chen incident" have mysteriously disappeared or were destroyed.
During Chen's tenure as a lawmaker, he requested a government investigation into the incident and requested compensation from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration, but to no avail.
After being elected president in 2000, Chen ordered the Ministry of National Defense in February 2002 to try to recover Lei's memoir and related government documents.
Claiming that the civil war between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party had been the major cause of the White Terror era, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma said that as leader of the KMT he felt obligated to express his sincere regret for what Lei's family had been forced to endure.
He hoped that such a tragedy would never happen again, Ma said.
Lei Mei-lin (
"It would be a lie if I said my family doesn't hold any grudges, but the resentment is against the Chiangs, not the KMT," she said.
After being blacklisted and unable to find a job, she and her husband emigrated to San Francisco in 1974.
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