A proposal to eliminate a requirement that public officials and military personnel take their oaths of office in front of a portrait of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) was aimed at “doing away with authoritarianism,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said yesterday.
Article 6 of the National Emblem and National Flag of the Republic of China Act (中華民國國徽國旗法) stipulates that government agencies, schools and the military should display the national flag above an image of Sun at the front and center of any room where people congregate.
Fan and DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) have proposed amending the act to eliminate the requirement that elected officials and others face a portrait of Sun while being sworn in.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信) yesterday blasted the proposal on Facebook.
“The DPP thinks that just doing away with Chinese history is not enough, now they want to eliminate all of the Republic of China’s [ROC] founding fathers,” he wrote.
The DPP wants to remove portraits of Sun under the auspices of “transitional justice,” but tomorrow it could use the same excuse to remove the national flag, he said.
“Once the national flag is moved away from our founder, it will lose its revolutionary significance, and the nation will lose the significance of its founding. If the DPP later decides to replace the national flag, the people will already be numb to the idea,” he said.
Next, the nation’s name will be in danger, Chen added.
Fan said Chen is too paranoid.
It is democratic to propose that people should no longer have to swear an oath to the portrait of a national founder, Fan said, noting that many nations do not have such a requirement, including the US, France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic and South Korea.
European prime ministers take their oaths facing their legislatures, while the US president faces the chief justice of the US Supreme Court, who is administering the oath of office, she said, adding that only in Taiwan must officials face an authoritarian figure.
Taiwan must move further toward democracy and away from authoritarianism, and should do so by eliminating the idolization of an authoritarian figure, and removing such portraits is part of the process of democratization, she added.
Chuang said that requiring the installment of a political leader’s portrait is unnecessary in a democracy, and there is no need to “worship a totem.”
The amendment is aimed at liberating people from the authoritarian-era mindset, normalizing the nation, advancing democracy and allowing the public to avoid having to worship long-gone idols, he said.
Chen’s comments “take things way too far,” Chuang said.
“Taiwan is now a democracy. The KMT should drop its authoritarian mindset and feudalist thinking — using the law to mandate the hanging portraits of a founding father and swearing an oath to them is too backward,” he added.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday demanded that Somalia reverse its decision prohibiting Taiwanese passport holders from entering or transiting through the country. Somalia said it is following the “one China” principle based on UN Resolution 2758. The ministry said that Somalia is misinterpreting the resolution under China’s instigation, creating a false impression that Taiwan is subordinate to China. The Somali Civil Aviation Authority told airlines on Tuesday last week that starting today, any passengers with passports or travel documents issued from Taiwan or its affiliated institutions would not be allowed to enter or transit through Somalia. The decision comes as Taiwan is boosting
RSS