Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

One of the most sad and disappointing things to recently happen in Taiwan has been the changing of the name of Democracy Hall back to that of Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall. It is a step backwards for democracy in Taiwan and symptomatic of Ma Ying-jeou's attempts to fabricate past credibility for his Sino-centric (not Taiwan-centric) government. Allegedly there was to be a discussion of the matter of this name change (read that a move typical of Ma's lip service hypocrisy). However, there were little or no publications of this discussion or its details, i.e. who specifically was for the re-naming and who was against it, what polls were taken, what percentage of the people supported it etc. No, before Taiwan knew it and while the Kaohsiung World Games distracted the country, the name was changed back. Perhaps Ma felt a discussion with Taiwan-basher Kuo Kuan-ying was sufficient.

The Public Servants Administrative Neutrality Act enacted on June 10 lays out a beautiful vision for the civil service, but also shows the slipshod, dragnet approach of legislation.

The act’s formulation and implementation can indeed guide public servants to carry out their administrative duties fairly, without bias for or against any political party and without getting involved in political disputes. However, it does not give due consideration to freedom of expression and academic thought as protected in Article 11 of the Constitution.