Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan’s long walk to freedom of expression

Lee Min-yung 李敏勇

Tuesday was the anniversary of the martyrdom of freedom advocate Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕). On the morning of April 7, 1989, New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) — acting on orders as then-head of the Taipei City Police Department Criminal Investigation Division — led a team into the offices of Freedom Era Weekly to arrest Deng, who had always supported freedom of thought, a cause he had long before sworn to fight to the very end for.

Rather than allowing himself to be taken into custody, Deng chose self-immolation. He was 42 years old.

Ma flops as commander-in-chief

Taipei Times Editorial

In many modern countries, the commander-in-chief is a civilian, rather than a soldier. Since they fall far behind a professional soldier when it comes to military knowledge and training, how should they lead the armed forces?

They do not direct military operations, of course, but set the country’s general direction, determine goals and lead the military and the general public in a cooperative effort toward national development. Looking at the issue from this perspective, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is clearly unqualified to be commander-in-chief.

Independence remarks spark DPP ire

Taipei Times

Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) sparked controversy yesterday, claiming that the party would not reject “unification” of Taiwan and China as an option and that Taiwanese independence is not one of its mainstream values.

Speaking in an interview with Chinese media outlet the Global Times, Hsu said that “independence” was never an objective when the DPP was founded in 1986 and that Taiwanese independence is not a mainstream value in the party, adding that the DPP would not reject Taiwan’s “unification” with China as a possibility.

Religious groups stunt growth of democracy

Andrew Cheng 鄭泰安

From the very outset, the upper echelons of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation’s management should have clearly defined its core mission: Does it exist to carry out charitable work or to promote religion? If the reason for raising funds from the public is for charitable work, then these donations should not be diverted for the promotion of religion, or used to construct “meditation halls” in every corner of Taiwan.

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