As time moves forward, Ma's administration moves backward

A group of 39 observers of Taiwanese politics from around the world -- many of whom were part of an earlier series of open letters on the erosion of justice in Taiwan under the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government -- is in the news yet again. This time, they're focusing on the indictment against former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).

Here's some of the main content [highlights mine]:

Dear President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九),

We the undersigned, international academics, analysts and writers from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, have for many years been keen observers of political developments in Taiwan. We were delighted when Taiwan made its transition to democracy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and we continue to care deeply for the country and its future as a free and democratic nation-state.

However, during the past three years, many of us have felt it necessary to address publicly our concerns to you about the erosion of justice and democracy in Taiwan, most recently in April this year regarding the charges of the "36,000 missing documents" against a number of prominent former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials. We raised these issues as international supporters of Taiwan's democracy.

At this time we express our deep concern about the charges against former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), often referred to as "the father of Taiwan's democracy," who was indicted on June 30 on charges of allegedly channeling US$7.8 million from secret diplomatic funds into the Taiwan Research Institute. These charges and their timing raise a number of questions that are related both to the case itself and the integrity of the judicial system in Taiwan.

After detailing the specific questions (which you can read at the link above) -- the first of which mentions that the charges stem from events which took place about 15 years ago -- the letter continues [highlights mine]:

Mr President, as head of state you bear overall responsibility for the state of affairs in Taiwan. In democratic systems, proper checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judiciary branches are of the utmost importance. The executive and the legislative branches have a responsibility to exercise oversight and to balance activism in the judiciary, just as the judiciary serves a similar role with regard to the executive and legislative branches. Stating that your government abides by "judicial independence" is therefore not enough. It is essential that all participants in the judicial process — prosecutors, judges and lawyers — are fully imbued with the basic principle that the judiciary is scrupulously impartial and not given to any partisan preferences.

We, as members of the international academic community, are left with the impression that the indictments and practices of the judiciary in Taiwan over the past three years reflect a judicial system that is increasingly influenced by political considerations. There has been a regression in the accomplishments of Taiwan's momentous democratization of the 1990s and 2000s. As good friends of Taiwan, we are deeply unsettled by this. It undermines Taiwan's international image as a free and democratic nation.

Mr President, we therefore urge you and your government to ensure that the judicial system is held to the highest standards of objectivity and fairness. Taiwan has many challenges ahead of it and it cannot afford the political divisions created by the use of the judicial system for political purposes.

Respectfully yours,
[the undersigned]

You can say that again (and they probably will)!

Some of the prequels
Don't forget the earlier parts of this long-running series, listed here in chronological order:

* November 6, 2008: Scholars and writers from around the world publish an "Open letter on erosion of justice in Taiwan." The same letter -- as an online petition -- was signed by more than 2,000 people. (The petition is now closed.)

* November 25, 2008: Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) calls the open letter "inaccurate."

* December 2, 2008: "Eroding justice: Open letter No. 2" counters Wang Ching-feng's claims.

* January 8, 2009: Over a month later, Wang Ching-feng comes up with "clarif[ications]" regarding the open-letter writers' so-called "misunderstandings."

* January 21, 2009: "Eroding justice: Open letter No. 3" is addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou.

* January 24, 2009: Two more "US-based Taiwan experts add [their] names to open letter [No. 3]."

* January 25, 2009: President Ma claims the public had gained confidence in the judiciary in 2008 -- the exact opposite of what this Taiwan News article tells us they actually felt:

According to recent surveys conducted by Academia Sinica and the Web site Yahoo! Kimo, over 50 percent of the people do not believe in Taiwan's judicial system and over 75 percent have no confidence that the Judicial Yuan will undertake judicial reform [...]

* May 22, 2009: An estimable group of scholars and writers -- 26 in all, and each one with a deep understanding of Taiwan and the surrounding facts -- has composed an open letter addressed directly to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). The letter addresses the ever-increasing problems with judicial fairness, press freedom, the lack of transparency in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) rapprochement with China, the loss of Taiwan's sovereignty, and the loss of human rights. The argument the letter makes is rock solid. It is based on demonstrable facts.

* November 9, 2009: Then there were 31. The Taiwan News publishes an "Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou by 30 international scholars" which reminds us that "a decrease of tension across the Taiwan Strait would indeed be welcome, but [...] that this should not be done at the expense of the hard-won democracy" and that "Taiwan should be more fully accepted by the international community as a full and equal partner." (Here's a version with 31 names on the web site of one of the signatories, Jerome F. Keating, Ph.D.)

* December 13, 2009: Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) submits the "GIO response to Nov. [9] open letter" to the Taipei Times.

* December 25, 2009: Richard Kagan, professor emeritus at Hamline University in St Paul, Minnesota and one of the signatories of the November 2009 letter, replies to Su Jun-pin's silliness in "GIO's response misses the point"

* January 8, 2010: Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) churns out A GIO response to Richard Kagan (one of the signatories of the November 9, 2009 "Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou by 30 international scholars") in which Su compares apples and oranges by imagining that other people don't know that China wants to annex Taiwan while the Taiwanese people don't want to be part of China, ignores what has happened to Hong Kong in the past 12 and a half years, talks about the "double-taxation" issue as if China won't still get those taxes from Taiwanese businesses, pretends to forget that Taiwan's Straits [sic] Exchange Foundation (海峽交流基金會) chairman and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) referred to himself as a "rubber stamp," complains that his government has no control over anything, ignores the KMT's continued attempts to take over Taiwan's Public TV (PTS, 公共電視), confuses gains in local elections with a balanced legislature and a president who listens to majority opinion without oppressing minorities or stupidly saying out loud that he "sees them as humans," and completely omits the fact that the talks regarding an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) -- which Chinese officials say "will certainly bring about complete unification of the motherland [sic] -- have been anything but transparent and have not been subject to legislative oversight. These things, Mr. Su, are clear signs of an erosion of both justice and democracy.

* February 9, 2010: Michael Danielsen, one of the signatories of the Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou last November, rebuts Su Jun-pin's response to Richard Kagan last month by pointing out that Democratic liberty is fundamental, "look[ing] forward to actual steps [by Su and the Ma government] that go beyond mere words."

* April 11, 2011: Another open letter criticizes the government's charges that 17 former DPP officials are responsible for "'failing to return' about 36,000 documents during the DPP administration" which ended almost three years earlier.

* April 14, 2011: In what is hard not to perceive as intimidation, the Foreign Ministry says it's going to probe this latest open letter, with Ma officials implying along the way that some of the writers were not of sound mind.

* April 17, 2011: The Chinese-language Liberty Times (自由時報) notices the intimidation factor: "The Liberty Times Editorial: KMT uses law as a political weapon."

* April 22, 2011: The Taipei Times draws a similar conclusion: "EDITORIAL: Government starts to sound like PRC."

I can already imagine how the Ma government will respond the latest letter.

How long can this continue? As long as Taiwanese allow the Chinese KMT to hold political power, it will just keep going and going and going.

---

Unsealing utensils: Taiwan, 台灣, open letter, 公開信, erosion of justice, 侵蝕司法, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Lee Teng-hui, 李登輝

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chinese Nationalist Party, erosion of justice, KMT, Kuomintang, Lee Teng-hui, Ma Ying-jeou, open letter, Taiwan, 中國國民黨, 侵蝕司法, 公開信, 台灣, 國民黨, 李登輝, 馬英九

Lest we forget the 228 Massacre (二二八大屠殺) of 1947

What am I thinking about on this 64th anniversary of one of the most horrific events in Taiwan's history?

I'm remembering with dismay that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is still in power -- even after behaving as colonizers for over six decades -- because they still use illicit methods to get elected. Here are some examples:

* Vote buying is rampant even within their own party's Central Standing Committee, but they keep putting the guilty ones right back in.

* In the January 2010 legislative by-elections, "Two of the three seats up for grabs […] in Taoyuan, Taichung and Taitung counties were left vacant by former KMT legislators found guilty of vote-buying," reminding us of their "tradition of buying votes."

* Lee Min-yung (李敏勇) reminds readers: "The roots of vote-buying can be found in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) long hold on power and its system for distributing the spoils of government."

* Laurence Eyton enlightens in a 2004 piece in the Asia Times Online: "[The Chinese KMT] has traditionally used its wealth to engage in what it calls 'traditional electoral practices', ie vote buying […]"

I'm reminded that the Chinese KMT still uses thuggery to maintain their power. Here are some examples:

* When disgraced former Toronto-based Government Information Office (GIO) official Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) returned to Taiwan, he was picked up at airport and "assisted" by thugs in black shirts assigned by Bamboo Union (竹聯幫) gang leader Chang An-le (張安樂).

* People wearing black T-shirts and vests bearing the name of the Matsu Temple (大天后宮) physically remove college students from a protest against the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government's policies regarding students from China.

* Despite denials by police, experience should tell you who the guys in the black shirts helping to defend Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) are.

* Read my post about the movie "Formosa Betrayed," which dramatizes real incidents involving the Chinese KMT, including their use of gangsters to carry out the assassination of a political dissident on American soil.

I'm reminded that the Chinese KMT is still distorting history. Here are some examples:

* A Taipei Times editorial reminds readers about Ma's empty promises: "So much for saying that the memorial hall [renaming] issue was 'not a pressing matter.'"

* Here's a photo of a display from the renovated 228 Memorial Museum which paints former dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) as "recovering … order" instead of as being the perpetrator of the massacre.

* Exhibits at the newly-renovated museum paint peaceful protesters as "mobs."

* President Ma pretends that the Chinese KMT has "dealt with its past" to the same extent the government of Germany has done since World War II.

* On the blog of Taipei City councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) you can read some of the details (Hanzi) and see photos (containing Hanzi text and a little bit of English) and video (Taiwanese and Mandarin audio, Hanzi text and a little bit of English) detailing some of the changes to the museum.

And I'm reminded that while Chinese KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou -- elected as Taiwan's president in 2008 on a promise of "no unification, no independence and no use of force" (不統、不獨、不武) -- has long claimed to support democracy, he still doesn't. Here are some examples:

* Remember the days when Ma was publicly against direct presidential elections.

* Remember when the Chinese KMT boycotted their own referendum about Taiwan's participation in the United Nations.

* The Executive Yuan's (行政院) Referendum Review Committee (公投審議委員會) turned down proposed referendums on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China three times, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that it had more than enough signatures and support in polls!

* In mid-2009, the Ma government reverted the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (臺灣民主紀念館) to its former name: the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (蔣中正紀念堂).

And I wouldn't be able to forget, no matter how hard I tried, that while Ma is in office as president of Taiwan, he primarily serves China. Here are some very recent examples:

* Ma wants people to stop calling China "China" and to call it "the mainland" or "the other side."

* A short time later, Beijing "praises" Ma for this.

* The Philippine government deports 14 Taiwanese suspects to China, basing the decision on a "one China" policy, yet Ma places zero blame on China.

People of Taiwan, when are you going to stop this from ever happening again?

If you have additional relevant examples to include in the topics above, please submit them in the comments below this post on Taiwan Matters! (use the HTML above the comment submission box for links) or via e-mail.

Further reading:
* Names and faces of some of the victims of the 228 Massacre (Hanzi)

* Wednesday, February 28, 2007 on Taiwan Matters!: Remembering two 228 Incidents (written before someone pointed out the obvious: that it should be referred to as the "228 Massacre" instead)

* Monday, March 1, 2004 on It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!: Hand-in-hand for peace (about my participation in the "228 Hand-in-Hand Rally" at 2:28 PM on Saturday, February 28, 2004)

* Monday, February 21, 2011 on Strait Talk: It's Taiwan, not China... Tales from Formosa, The Beautiful Island: "Formosa Displayed, Formosa Betrayed: Taiwan's 228 Museum Rewriting History?"

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Dates with disaster: Taiwan, 台灣, 228 Massacre, 二二八大屠殺, 228 Incident, 二二八事件, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: 228 Incident, 228 Massacre, Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT, Kuomintang, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan, 中國國民黨, 二二八事件, 二二八大屠殺, 台灣, 國民黨, 馬英九

Putting Taiwan in the spotlight

Will Tiao, the producer of the film "Formosa Betrayed" (被出賣的台灣), which is being released across the United States today, sent this around [emphasis mine]:

Dear Friends,

This weekend, February 26-28, a new movie about Taiwan will be coming to theaters. Formosa Betrayed is the first American film to ever deal with US-Taiwan relations and explore the issues of democracy, identity, and justice during the White Terror period in Taiwan. The movie was largely funded by Taiwanese all over the United States and Canada, who invested over $6 million into the film. This makes Formosa Betrayed one of the largest pro-Taiwan projects ever funded by the overseas Taiwanese community. Most of these investors are not wealthy -- they are hard working individuals who came to America to provide a better life for their children.

I am one of those children.

My parents are from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. While growing up, they taught me to call myself "Taiwanese," not "Chinese." This caused them much hardship, which included being put on a blacklist. Some of their friends had worse things happen to them. In some cases, people were killed.

The Taiwanese people have suffered at the hands of many over the last century, but these stories have rarely been told or heard. As a second generation Taiwanese American, I feel it is my duty to educate my generation, as well as the world, about the struggles and suffering of the Taiwanese. We cannot allow Taiwan's history and its people's hardships to be forgotten. Once that happens, it only becomes a matter of time before these atrocities are repeated. This is precisely why I dedicated the last five years of my life to bringing the story of Formosa Betrayed to the world.

As the turbulent reaction to President Obama's recent arms sale to Taiwan shows, US-China-Taiwan relations is still a touchy subject that is greeted by fleeting interest, faint support, or --perhaps worst of all-- indifference by the American media. I am hoping the release of Formosa Betrayed will help spur greater awareness and wider discussion about these important matters in the United States and abroad. This is why I am urging you to see Formosa Betrayed this weekend with your friends and family -- to enlighten them about Taiwan's embattled legacy and its struggle for democracy.

Thank you for your time and interest.


All the best,

Will Tiao
President, Formosa Films
Producer, Formosa Betrayed

Remember that this film is based upon important real events in Taiwan's history, and do everything within your power to see it.

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Daily rushes: Taiwan, 台灣, open letter, 公開信, Formosa Betrayed, 被出賣的台灣, White Terror, 白色恐怖, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chinese Nationalist Party, Formosa Betrayed, KMT, Kuomintang, open letter, Taiwan, White Terror, 中國國民黨, 公開信, 台灣, 國民黨, 白色恐怖, 被出賣的台灣

Sweeping those dirty counties clean!

All three of yesterday's by-elections to choose new legislators in Taoyuan (桃園), Taichung (台中), and Taitung (台東) Counties -- all Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) strongholds -- were won by pro-Taiwan opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates, and won by surprising margins.

While the Taitung by-election was held to replace Justin Huang (黃健庭), who resigned his legislative position before being elected as Taitung County commissioner, the Taichung and Taoyuan elections were held to replace Chinese KMT politicians whose elections were annulled due to vote-buying convictions: Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) in Taoyuan and Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) in Taichung.

Here are the numbers for the two major parties extracted from a press release (MS Word .doc file) available on the Central Election Commission (CEC) web site (percentage calculations mine, "non-partisan" candidates' votes included in calculating totals):

Taoyuan: DPP = 53,633 (58.05%) / KMT = 36,989 (40.01%)
Taichung: DPP = 63,335 (55.02%) / KMT = 51,776 (44.98%)
Taitung: DPP = 23,190 (49.46%) / KMT = 21,215 (45.25%)
The Sunday Taipei Times has an English-language chart (in image format) of the same numbers I show above, but including the other candidates.

Implications
The DPP now holds 30 legislative seats (compared to the Chinese KMT's 74 seats), giving them the power to initiate recall proceedings against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) or propose amendments to the constitution.

Considering the gains made by the DPP in last month's election and this one, I'm looking forward to the February 27, 2010 by-election (to replace more legislators who were elected as county commissioners in the December 5, 2009 3-in-1 election) to demonstrate a real trend.

FURTHER READING:
* Taipei Times: "DPP wins all three seats in by-elections"

* Taiwan News: "Sweep shows voice of Taiwan people, says DPP leader"

* Taiwan News: "DPP will not launch presidential recall at legislature"

* Radio Taiwan International: "DPP takes all three legislative by-election seats "

* Straits Times (Singapore): "Taiwan opposition scores win"

* Reuters' Kelvin Soh and Ralph Jennings "report," Nick Macfie edits: "Taiwan anti-China opposition gains legislative seats" (Note the use of "anti-China" instead of "pro-Taiwan" -- putting the onus for the antipathy on the wrong side -- and so much more anti-Taiwan BS within.)

* AFP: "Taiwan opposition scores fresh election win" (Note the big zombie lie within the piece which says: "The self-ruled island and China split in 1949 after a civil war.")

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Participants: Taiwan, 台灣, election, 選舉, Democratic Progressive Party, 民主進步黨, DPP, 民進黨, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Ralph Jennings, 唐甯思

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chinese Nationalist Party, Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, election, KMT, Ralph Jennings, Taiwan, 中國國民黨, 台灣, 唐甯思, 國民黨, 民主進步黨, 民進黨, 選舉

DPP makes gains, but they aren't enough

Today's Taipei Times had a good visual analysis of the election result in PDF form [link updated] comparing the results with the turnout of the last Township/City/County election in 2005 and showing that out of the locales that were involved (Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taichung, and Taipei [Cities and Counties]) weren't), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held onto all their seats plus gained Yilan County. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), on the other hand lost not only Yilan (to the DPP) but Hualien County, too, to Fu Kun-chi (傅昆萁), who had left the party to run against the KMT's Du Li-hua (杜麗華).

The election in Penghu County was close, with KMT candidate Wang Chien-fa (王乾發) beating his DPP opponent Tsai Chien-hsing (蔡見興) by just 595 votes. A recount will take place automatically.

Michael Turton notes how close the overall vote count was, though I should point out that he's only looking at the numbers for the city mayors and county magistrates.

Much more info on the election is available on today's front page and in the Taiwan News section.

Chinese KMT violence to the fore
In other election-related news, Chen Chen-hui (陳振輝), the KMT's losing candidate in the Yunlin County town of Huwei (虎尾鎮) did something incredibly stupid.

A couple of hours after votes had been counted, Chen showed up at rival Lin Wen-pin's (林文彬, DPP) campaign headquarters. Chen was drunk and had a gun, and he started shooting. The DPP candidate's son, a policeman, happened to be on the scene and quickly captured the shooter, but not before a woman had been shot in the leg. Her injuries are said not to be life-threatening.

Here's a Liberty Times (自由時報) report on the shooting from late last night, and another article in today's Liberty Times mentions that Chen has a serious criminal record for having shot two investigators 24 years ago. That article tells us:

根據警方資料，陳振輝在二十四年前曾因槍擊兩名雲林縣調查員入獄。

[Maddog translation:]
According to police sources, Chen Chen-hui was sent to prison 24 years ago for shooting two Yunlin County investigators.

Chinese KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who happens to be Taiwan's current President, said he'd run a "clean" campaign with "clean" candidates, yet this violent criminal -- who probably had the gun already -- was one of his picks.

Ah, the things that some people will call "clean."

Here's a report on the shooting from SETN (三立新聞台) that I uploaded to YouTube:


2:27 YouTube video: "Shooting in Huwei, Yunlin by loser Chinese KMT candidate"
Is anybody surprised?

UPDATE: More analyses:
* Michael Turton compares the DPP's numbers from the 2008 presidential election with those from the December 5 election. The result shows an increase in DPP support in every area but one (Chiayi City, -1.9%).

* The Monday, December 7, 2009 edition of the Taipei Times takes a magnifying glass to the local election results, showing that the DPP made were bigger than they may seem at first glance. [/update]

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Bullets in the chamber: Taiwan, 台灣, election, 選舉, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Chen Chen-hui, 陳振輝, shooting, 槍擊案, Democratic Progressive Party, 民主進步黨, DPP, 民進黨

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chen Chen-hui, Chinese Nationalist Party, Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, election, KMT, Kuomintang, Taiwan, 中國國民黨, 台灣, 國民黨, 民主進步黨, 民進黨, 選舉, 陳振輝

Destruction of democracy


Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (臺灣民主紀念館)
Photographed in December 2007 by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)
Earlier today, the dictator-loving Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government under Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) removed a sign reading "臺灣民主紀念館" ("Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall") from a Taipei monument and restored its earlier name "中正紀念堂" ("Chiang Kai-shek [蔣介石/蔣中正] Memorial Hall") in commemoration of a dictator who was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Taiwanese here and millions of people in China.

Remember how Ma said he would "gauge public opinion" before changing the name and that it was "not a pressing matter"? Did you believe it then?


A closer shot of the plaque which -- until earlier
today -- read "Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall"
Photographed in December 2007 by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)
This is yet another brazen display of the KMT's authoritarian nature, their unabashed love of dictators, and their hatred of democracy.

Are you awake yet? If you are, and if anyone you know is still asleep, go pour a large bucket of cold water on their heads this instant!

FURTHER READING:
* Michael Turton pretty much live-blogged it: KMT restores Chiang Kai-shek Name to Memorial Hall

* See what I wrote about this on May 30, 2009: The Chinese Nationalist Party hates Taiwan's democracy

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Things to remember and never forget: Taiwan, 台灣, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, 臺灣民主紀念館, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, 中正紀念堂, Chiang Kai-shek, 蔣介石, CKS, 蔣中正

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, KMT, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan, Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, 中正紀念堂, 台灣, 國民黨, 臺灣民主紀念館, 馬英九

Goodbye democracy, hello dead-dictator worship


Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (臺灣民主紀念館)
Photographed in December 2007 by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)
The Saturday, May 30, 2009 edition of the Taipei Times brings us the details of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) plans to reverse Taiwan's democracy all the way back to how things were when they were the only party that was legal and memorializing dictators was de rigueur:

Old CKS plaque to be reinstated at Memorial Hall

[...]

The [KMT] government has decided to remove a plaque bearing the name "National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" from the main building of the hall and would reinstate the "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" plaque in July, Minister Without Portfolio Ovid Tseng (曾志朗) said on Thursday.

The decision was made after coordination meetings between different government branches, Tseng said.

As for the inscription on the memorial hall's entry arch, the Ministry of Education said yesterday it would hold three public forums next month to discuss whether to reinstate the four-character inscription, dazhong zhizheng (大中至正), which means "great neutrality and perfect uprightness."*

Participants at the forums will include academics and experts, while elected representatives and government officials will be excluded from the meetings, the ministry said.

Tseng said the government would not replace the "Liberty Square" inscription at the hall entrance until after gauging public opinion on the matter during the ministry-sponsored forums.

[...]

During the review of the central government's budget request for the current fiscal year in January, the KMT-controlled legislature passed a resolution stating that "the name of National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall shall be changed to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall."

Note carefully how they say they won't replace the "Liberty Square" sign "until after they gauge public opinion." According to experience, that means that no matter what the public has to say about it, they will do it, perhaps after pretending to do a survey.


A closer shot of the plaque which reads
"Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall"
Photographed in December 2007 by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)
* NOTE: The second and fourth characters in "dazhong zhizheng" form two-thirds of one of Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石/蔣中正) names. Every city in Taiwan has a Zhongzheng/Jhongjheng/Chungcheng Road (中正路).


The gate at Liberty Square
Photographed in December 2007 by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)

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Directional indicators: Taiwan, 台灣, Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, 臺灣民主紀念館, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Chiang Kai-shek, 蔣介石, CKS, 蔣中正, Liberty Square, 自由廣場

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chiang Kai-shek, CKS, KMT, Liberty Square, Taiwan, Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, 台灣, 國民黨, 自由廣場, 臺灣民主紀念館, 蔣中正, 蔣介石

Remove that thing from public places, or...

On the morning of Tuesday, May 26, 2009, Taipei City councilor Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and a couple of his colleagues climbed the scaffolding surrounding Taipei's Jingfu Gate (景福門) and covered the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) emblem with white paint. The KMT symbol had been painted -- in grand dictatorial fashion -- on the historical monument on or around May 18, one day after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest the pro-China, anti-Taiwan policies of president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his party.


Jingfu Gate is corrected (left) after being defaced by the KMT government (far right)
Screenshot from SET's (三立新聞) Talking Show (大話新聞)
(Click to enlarge)
A bridge in Yonghe City (Taipei County) has also been recently decorated with publicly-funded golden horses, mirroring Ma's family name (Ma [馬] means "horse"). The bridge has nine arches, and "nine" (九) is the third word in Ma's name. Talk about a culture of flattery!


Kissing Ma's ass from every angle
Screenshot from SET's (三立新聞) Talking Show (大話新聞)
(Click to enlarge)
On May 20, 2009, state-owned Taiyen (台鹽) put bottled water on the market with a jogger on the label, reflecting one of the activities Ma is best-known for. It came in 520 ml bottles, reflecting Ma's inauguration date (5/20/2008). After Ma got in office, Kuo Su-chun's (郭素春) husband Hung Hsi-yao (ph) (洪璽曜) became the company's chairman. Kuo is (in-)famous for shouting 「 選舉無效！」 ("Annul the election!") alongside sore loser Lien Chan (連戰) before the riots began. Could there be a connection between these things? Hmmmm...


A humid homage to "the Great Jogger," Ma Ying-jeou
Screenshot from SET's (三立新聞) Talking Show (大話新聞)
(Click to enlarge)
And in conjunction with the anniversary of Ma's inauguration, public funds were spent by the state-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Company (TTL, 台灣菸酒公司) on a newspaper ad praising Ma for his "erudition" (博學), "extraordinary ability" (宏才), and "love of Taiwan." Doesn't that make you sick?


Your money paid for this propaganda
Screenshot from SET's (三立新聞) Talking Show (大話新聞)
(Click to enlarge)
Or did you hear about the fountain in Beitou -- costing around NT$30 MILLION -- with a design that looks like the KMT's party emblem? (That article is in Chinese, but even if you can't read it, go there to see the image.)

And don't forget the article about "Sunny (as in 'positive'), healthy Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou" in the children's publication, Mandarin Daily News (國語日報). NOTHING of this sort happened during former president Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) eight years in office -- a time in which KMT (as part of a neverending smear campaign) constantly called Chen a "dictator" and a "populist." Ma has been in office for exactly one year and six days so far, and look what we get. It's "拍馬屁" in the extreme.

What now?
First, tattoo the above incidents onto your brain with a friggin' laser beam. The next time something similar happens, you will be able to recite them by heart to everyone you talk to.

But if you get creative, there are other ways to deal with this kind of situation.

One way would be to get rid of all such emblems, and that would look something like this:


I know, I know. There's a slight difference between the KMT's party emblem and the knockoff they call the "national emblem," but if the two emblems were the topic of a trademark infringement lawsuit, somebody's ass would get sued into the ground.
(Click to enlarge)
... or we could put them everywhere. Here's a good place:


Modification of an Olivier Morin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Image
(Click the above image to enlarge)
(See what the original image looked like)
Mr. Chang from Kaohsiung suggests "Ma Ying-jeou toilet tissue," and he has a variation of the idea you see being carried out in the above image:


0:44 YouTube video: "Flush Ma Ying-jeou down your toilet"
UPDATE: From the June 9, 2009 edition of the Liberty Times (自由時報) comes this article about someone putting KMT party emblem stickers in urinals in Taichung's Chungshan Park (中山公園):


Liberty Times photo by 蘇金鳳
公廁貼黨徽 「方便」也能表不滿
Translation: Stickers bearing the [KMT] party emblem appear in public restroom --
"taking a leak" can also express your dissatisfaction
(Click to enlarge)
[/update]

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Reachers en regalia: Taiwan, 台灣, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, propaganda, 宣傳, parody, 戲仿

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT, Kuomintang, Ma Ying-jeou, parody, propaganda, Taiwan, 中國國民黨, 台灣, 國民黨, 宣傳, 戲仿, 馬英九

Dueling headlines

Note the headline of a front-page article in today's Taipei Times:

DPP chief slams cross-strait talks as failure

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that Sunday's round of cross-strait talks were a failure that made concessions on sovereignty but did not help Taiwanese businesses.

Tsai said the failure of the talks was inevitable given President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) "mindset."

She said the Ma government made four mistakes: It made concessions on sovereignty before the talks; it relied too much on China's goodwill and the Chinese economy; it avoided consultation with or supervision from the legislature and opposition parties; and it had no way of ensuring that national security officials and the government's negotiators had no conflict of interest.

Tsai said Ma had made a comment supporting Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) speech marking the 30th anniversary of Beijing's "open letter to Taiwanese compatriots," which highlighted the "one China" principle, and which was a concession on sovereignty.

The government also gave up negotiations on the "fifth freedom of the air," essentially implying that cross-strait flights are domestic flights, she said.

Compare that with the front-page headline of yesterday's China Post


I don't think that "success" means the same thing
to the China Post that it does to others
(Click to enlarge)

SUCCESS IN NANJING

[...]

P.K. Chiang, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), signed the agreements on financial cooperation, regular flights across the Taiwan Strait, and joint efforts to fight crime with his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin at the former capital of the Republic of China in the afternoon. Chen, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), spoke before the signing, pledging more foreign direct investment in Taiwan and welcoming Taiwan entrepreneurs to invest in China.

SEF and ARATS are quasi-governmental organizations charged with the conduct of relations between the two sides of the strait.

They met for the third time since President Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated in May of last year, easing the tensions across the strait, while his predecessor Chen Shui-bian carried on his policy of creeping independence for Taiwan.

The China Post, you may notice, does one decent thing by putting P.K. Chiang and Chen Yunlin on equal footing. On the other hand, however, they both ignore the real problems pointed out by Tsai Ing-wen, and they conjure up imaginary ones such as "creeping independence."

Home field advantage
Considering that this took place in the old ROC capital -- on China's turf -- where official Chinese media referred to Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) as "President" of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) while Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤, AKA P.K. Chiang) was called the "Chairman" of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) (hardly on "equal footing"), I'd agree with both headlines. It's "success" for those on China's side but yet another failure for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in their dealings with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Debase? How low can you go?
For the DPP, it's obvious that they wouldn't budge on whatever the status quo was at the time and that they'd never give an inch when it came to Taiwan's sovereignty. However, what I see for the KMT's own "bottom line" is that they have no bottom line.

Fool me once, shame on you. But the shameless KMT will let the CCP fool them as many times as it takes for Taiwan to be annexed.

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Kneel-son ratings: Taiwan, 台灣, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chiang Pin-kung, 江丙坤, P.K. Chiang, Straits Exchange Foundation, 海峽交流基金會, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林>, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, 海峽兩岸關係協會, Chinese Communist Party, 中國共產黨, China Post, 英文中國郵報

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chen Yunlin, Chiang Pin-kung, China Post, Chinese Communist Party, KMT, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan, 中國共產黨, 台灣, 國民黨, 江丙坤, 英文中國郵報, 陳雲林, 馬英九

Fact vs. fiction


KMT shoots DPP, DPP throws pebble, KMT cries 'Party of violence'
(Taipei Times editorial cartoon, click for original page)
If it weren't so serious, it would be laughable that someone from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) -- the party responsible for the 228 Massacre of 1947, the Kaohsiung Incident of 1979, four decades of martial law and White Terror on both sides of the Taiwan Strait (resulting in the deaths of millions, yet party members still venerate Chiang Kai-shek [蔣介石]), rioting and crashing campaign trucks into courthouse gates and breaking into Central Election Commission headquarters when they lose elections, and so much more -- is calling the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a "party of violence" (暴力政黨), but that's exactly what they've done yet again.

Before I get to this latest instance, take a look at just a sampling of the behavior of the KMT, and try to keep in mind that they're accusing the other party of being "violent":


2:04 YouTube video: "換掉"
Loose translation: Time for change
On Wednesday, April 22, 2009, female DPP legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) slapped KMT legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) in the face after he provokingly called her a "shrew" (pōfù, 潑婦) in the legislature at least 11 times. Lee also accused Chiu of "lacking a proper upbringing" (沒家教).


2:42 YouTube video: "美國人的哥哥李慶華罵邱議瑩沒家教-民視新聞 20090422"
Translation: Lee Ching-hua, brother of American (Diane Lee), berates
Chiu Yi-ying as "lacking a proper upbringing" - FTV News, April 22, 2009
When Lee continued to insult Chiu, she went back and grabbed him by the collar, sarcastically shouting, "Just keep it up!" before she was pulled away by other legislators.

Throughout the day, Lee repeated the phrase "party of violence" over and over.

Later, the ever-redshirt-wearing Lee held a press conference along with other KMT legislators, where he repeated himself some more -- Mao Zedong-like (毛澤東) -- as if doing so would magically turn his lie into "the truth" when he said it for the hundredth time (while pointing to an anonymous quote in the blue media).

Holding up another mirror for the KMT
One of the legislators who accompanied Lee at this press conference was Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who said (with a large dose of racist invective) that "violence is in the DPP's DNA." Ironically, while she accuses others of being violent (and the KMT frequently accuses the DPP of being "ethnically divisive"), she can be seen in this video striking two police officers:


1:00 YouTube video: "Cop-hitter Hung Hsiu-chu says "violence is in the DPP's DNA""
The footage of Hung's violence which I used in the above video was excerpted from this one:


0:40 YouTube video: "taiwan豈有此理!洪秀柱打警察未被以現行犯逮捕!"
Translation: Taiwan ridiculousness! Hung Hsiu-chu caught red-handed hitting police, not arrested!
Lee even went to the courthouse with media in tow to press the button in order to initiate a lawsuit against Chiu. It seems like a good time to remind readers of what former president of the Executive Yuan, Hsu Shui-teh (KMT), once said: "The courts belong to us." ("法院是我們家[國民黨]開的.")

Party of violence, indeed! The KMT most certainly and demonstrably is a party of violence!

And, by the way, self-defense is not violence.

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Weapons amass distraction: Taiwan, 台灣, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Lee Ching-hua, 李慶華, Chiu Yi-ying, 邱議瑩, violence, 暴力, martial law, 戒嚴, White Terror, 白色恐怖, 228 Massacre, 二二八大屠殺, Hung Hsiu-chu, 洪秀柱, irony, 嘲諷的話, Chiang Kai-shek, 蔣介石, CKS, 蔣中正, Chiang Ching-kuo, 蔣經國, CCK

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chiu Yi-ying, Hung Hsiu-chu, irony, KMT, Lee Ching-hua, Taiwan, violence, 台灣, 嘲諷的話, 國民黨, 暴力, 李慶華, 洪秀柱, 邱議瑩