Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) yesterday said that the Presidential Office is the greatest remaining symbol of the former authoritarian regime and suggested that President William Lai (賴清德) relocate.
The comments came as the Ministry of the Interior drafted proposals to rename roads that symbolize authoritarianism, such as Zhongzheng or Jhongjheng Road (中正), named after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
The Presidential Office was built during the Japanese colonial period to house the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Hsu asked why large sums of money should be spent on renaming roads.
Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), promulgated in 2017, states that symbols appearing in public buildings or places that commemorate or express nostalgia for authoritarian rulers shall be removed or renamed.
“We are acting according to the law. The ministry is not pushing [the renaming] initiative without just cause,” she said.
Moreover, transitional justice is a human rights issue and a matter of values, she added.
The initiative would require changing personal addresses, business registrations and placards outside buildings, Hsu said.
It would additionally entail replacing tens of thousands of street signs, land deeds, personal identification cards, household registrations and National Health Insurance cards, she added.
The measures would affect four special municipalities, 38 administrative districts and 410,000 people, with a preliminary estimated cost of almost NT$100 million (US$3.34 million), excluding personal costs for those affected, she said.
Roads or alleys named “Jhongjheng” total 311, while 29 are named Jieshou (介壽), a term wishing longevity for Chiang, and nine are named Jingguo, to honor former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Liu said.
The current total stands at 349, although further data are still being collected, she added.
The subsidy for renaming streets or moving statues is capped at NT$100,000.
However, this sum is only the budget for the Department of Civil Affairs, and funding from the Transitional Justice Fund might be allocated to local governments if needed, Liu said.
The central government has not yet released a list of names that represent authoritarianism and need replacing, leaving local governments unsure how to proceed and raising suspicions of selective enforcement, KMT Legislator Chang Chih-lun (張智倫) said.
While the ministry is the competent authority on local governance, local governments remain the implementing bodies, Liu said.
Budgeting is a statutory responsibility, and allocations can vary based on local circumstances, she added.
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