Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Dapu demolition marked with painting and video

Taipei Times

A mural titled Four Villains by artist and activist Liu Tsung-jung is pictured by the site of a demolished pharmacy in Dapu Township, Miaoli County, on Friday last week.
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times

In commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the demolition of the Chang Pharmacy in Dapu Borough (大埔), Miaoli County, social activist and artist Liu Tsung-jung (劉宗榮) and others on Friday last week finished a painting on the building’s sole remaining wall.

On July 18 last year, four houses in Jhunan Township’s (竹南) Dapu, including the building housing the Chang Pharmacy, were demolished against the will of their owners to make way for a controversial science park extension project.

Nation’s freedom and US security

Li Thian-hok 李天福

The vast majority of the 23 million residents of Taiwan regard themselves as Taiwanese and they overwhelmingly reject Chinese annexation of the nation. The Sunflower movement that started with the occupation of the legislature on March 18 by college students and spread rapidly to many sectors of Taiwan’s civil society vividly attests to this.

Taiwan’s situation is precarious. The military balance has clearly shifted in favor of China. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is collaborating with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to surrender Taiwan, by signing a peace accord with Beijing.

Taxpayers paying tab for illegal hire of Kuo

Huang Di-ying 黃帝穎

On July 14, former Government Information Office (GIO) official Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英), who was removed from his post in 2009 after writing political commentary on Web sites that referred to Taiwanese as “descendants of Japanese pirates,” “rednecks” and “country bumpkins,” met the legal age necessary for retirement from the Taiwan Provincial Government, where he was employed as foreign affairs secretary in February.

As a result, Kuo is set to collect a monthly pension of NT$60,000 (US$2,000) funded by taxes paid by the rednecks and country bumpkins he had so much to say about in 2009.

Transitional justice still lacking

Taipei Times Editorial

Tuesday marked the 27th anniversary of the lifting of martial law, which ended the era of authoritarian rule in Taiwan and put the nation on the path of democratic reform. However, as a result of the nation’s failure to institute transitional justice over the course of its democratization, a poisonous residue of authoritarianism lingers on.

The absurdity of this was highlighted this week in a campaign by a group of high-school students from prestigious schools such as Taipei Chenggong High School, Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School, Taipei First Girls’ High School and National Tainan Girls’ Senior High School, who co-produced and released a video calling for the removal of Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) statues from all campuses nationwide.

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