The Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) said yesterday it would appeal a decision by the Control Yuan to censure the council for installing a controversial work of art at a human rights memorial.
The censure came after the council arranged for an art installation depicting Wang Hsi-ling (汪希苓), former head of the Military Intelligence Bureau who was involved in the murder of a democracy activist, to be exhibited at the Jingmei Human Rights and Culture Park.
During a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee CCA Minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) said there may have been some “misunderstanding” over the matter, adding that the council would file an appeal next week.
Sheng also promised to fully review the council’s decision to hold the exhibition, adding that it would faithfully present the stories of political victims at the memorials in Jingmei, Taipei City, and Green Island.
The government watchdog censured the council last Thursday for causing controversy with the Wang exhibition.
Wang was placed under house arrest for ordering the assassination of Taiwanese-American writer Henry Liu (劉宜良) at his home in California in 1984 after Liu wrote a critical biography of then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
Wang was arrested after international pressure on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to act.
The Control Yuan said the council’s Administration of Cultural Heritage had placed too much emphasis on Wang’s positive attributes and background in the exhibition’s brochure and timeline.
The Control Yuan said the council neglected its duty by “portraying one of the masterminds of a horrible assassination in a national memorial of human rights in a positive light.”
“The CCA knew the issue was politically sensitive, while the council’s advisers and artists [participating in the art exhibition] disagreed [with how Wang was portrayed], but CCA officials obviously committed malfeasance because it allowed the issue to cause controversy,” the Control Yuan said.
This was the second time this month the Control Yuan has censured the council. Control Yuan members resolved on March 2 that the council should punish two of the responsible officials by transferring them to other jobs.
Sheng told the committee yesterday that the council never expected such controversy.
The council did not have any political motive when planning the exhibition, Sheng said, adding that the council would conduct a review to see whether it had failed to consider the feelings of the families of victims of the White Terror.
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