Due to a lack of public consensus, the Tainan City Government has temporarily suspended plans to restore a statue of Republic of China (ROC) founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) that had been toppled in a local park.
The statue in the city’s Tang Te-chang Memorial Park was toppled by demonstrators protesting authoritarian symbols in February 2014.
The city had planned to restore the statue in the park on Friday, but the decision was met with criticism from advocates of Taiwanese independence.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
National Cheng Kung University Taiwanese literature professor Chiung Wi-vun (蔣為文) on Wednesday last week questioned whether Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had become a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), saying that Tainan residents should gather at the park on Friday to protest.
DPP Tainan City Councilor Lee Chi-wei (李啟維) said that there is a global trend to move away from erecting statues and busts of people.
The Transitional Justice Commission has also asked local governments to remove statues that are symbols of the KMT authoritarian regime, he said, adding that Tainan has not only not removed them, but is considering restoring such a statue, one that is not even related to the park’s name.
KMT Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) praised the city government’s decision, saying that Sun is not a controversial figure in Taiwan.
“This mayor is different from others and deserves to be praised,” Hsieh said of Huang.
On Friday, Huang said that while the city government must do something with the statue, it has decided to delay restoring the statue until it sees what the public thinks about it.
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