The anti-change, conservative forces in Taiwanese society have never gone away and have prevented democracy from taking root in the seemingly democratized nation, former Presidential Office secretary-general Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) says.

The widow of democracy activist Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who has recently become the center of media attention following a controversy over naming a plaza at National Cheng Kung University, made the remarks in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Saturday.