Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Chen Shui-bian’s punishment cell at Taipei Prison (Photos)

Michael Richardson

Chen was confined 23 hours per day with another prisoner and no bed

Taiwan Political Prisoner Report, January 4, 2013. Former ROC President Chen Shui-bian’s conditions of imprisonment, which broke his health and spirit, are indicative of Chen’s status as a political prisoner. The Republic of China in-exile has a penal system haunted by ghosts from decades of martial law when ideas of Taiwanese independence were punished by prison sentences.

Chen is now being held in a locked psychiatric cell at a government hospital in Taipei while he recovers from a list of medical and psychological problems incurred during his imprisonment.

Su attacks KMT, calls on groups to hit the streets

Taipei Times

Convener of the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign Peter Wang, fourth left, and other members of the group hold up signs and encourage the public to come together on Jan. 13 in a rally against President Ma Ying-jeou.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over its assets, saying the KMT administration had secretly sold its ill-gotten assets, pocketed substantial commissions from the transactions and used the profits to heavily subsidize the party’s election campaigns, spawning grave public grievance in the country.

Accompanied by lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and representatives from the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan, the Rotary Club and the Taiwan Junior Chamber, Su made the remarks at a press conference in Taipei, titled “Giving vent to fury” (火大找出路), which called on more than 1,000 civil groups to hit the streets along with the party in a planned mass demonstration in Taipei against President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.

Chen Shui-bian is the Kuomintang’s most powerful opposition leader

Michael Richardson

Taiwan Political Prisoner Report, Jan. 3, 2013. Chen Shui-bian, broken in spirit and serving a lengthy prison sentence for alleged corruption, still remains the ruling Kuomintang’s chief opposition figure in the Republic of China in-exile. Chen was President of the ROC from 2000 to 2008 and found himself in legal trouble just minutes after leaving office.

Chen Shui-bian was born October 12, 1950 into a poor farming community in Tainan County. The young Chen applied himself to his studies and graduated with honors from high school. Chen attended National Taiwan University Law School becoming a commercial attorney in 1974. In 1975, Chen married Wu Shu-chen, the wealthy daughter of a physician whom he had known since high school, and started a family raising two children.

Taiwanese youth, students show they care

Taipei Times

About 1,000 demonstrators stage a sit-in protest against media monopolization on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei on New Year’s Day, asking President Ma Ying-jeou to respond to their demands.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times

During the year-end celebrations, Taiwanese youth and students showed they care about society and helping others by initiating rallies and lending movements their boundless energy and creativity, from picking up street trash and protesting against monopolization of the media to supporting laid-off workers.

This is a dramatic change from the recent past, when youth and students often gave the impression that they were self-indulgent, engaging in frivolous activities, thrill-seeking, all-night parties and shallow celebrity worship.

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