On the 24th anniversary of an incident involving the Taiwan Independence Association (TIA), a documentary made by four young people who were born in the 1990s to present the story and show their quest for knowledge of lesser-known history was released yesterday.
“I first learned about the TIA incident when I was reading the memoirs of [veteran Taiwanese independence leader] Su Beng (史明),” Liao Chien-hua (廖建華), director of The Last Insurrection (末代叛亂犯), said at the film’s premiere in Taipei. “I was actually quite upset that I did not know that Investigation Bureau agents had broken into the student dorm at National Tsing Hua University [NTHU], arrested a student in his dorm room and charged him with sedition after Martial Law was lifted.”
Liao, who was born in 1990 and graduated from NTHU last year, said he used to believe that there had not been any more political persecutions after the Martial Law era ended in 1987. Learning about the TIA incident came as a shock to him, inspiring him to dig more into history and make the film with three other friends, who were also born in the 1990s.
The TIA incident refers to a case in which the Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Justice arrested four people — NTHU student Liao Wei-chen (廖偉程), Aboriginal rights activist Masao Nikar, political activist Wang Hsiu-hui (王秀惠) and historian Chen Cheng-jen (陳正然) — accused them of having been directed by Tokyo-based TIA founder Su to organize activities for Taiwan independence and charged them with sedition.
According to the now-defunct Punishment of Rebellion Act (懲治叛亂條例), the four would receive the death penalty if found guilty.
The arrests triggered student strikes and demonstrations across the nation, including a student-led occupation of the Taipei Railway Station to protest what was seen as the government’s suppression of the freedom of expression.
Pressured, the legislature abolished the Punishment of Rebellion Act nine days later on May 17, 1990, and the four were immediately freed.
Liao Chien-hua said that he and his friends made the film to remind the public about the event.
To get a full picture of what happened, the team interviewed more than 40 people, from the victims, activists and their friends, to former officials, such as then-Investigation Bureau director-general Wu Tung-ming (吳東明) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), who was the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) secretary-general at the time.
However, when the team also requested an interview with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who was in power at the time, Lee declined, saying that he did not remember much about the event.
A public screening of the film is to be held next Sunday in the lobby of Taipei Railway Station to coincide with the anniversary of the group’s release, and a student demonstration scene is to be reproduced at the railway station as well.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS