Taiwan’s two “fathers of democracy,” Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), passed away during the past two years. When Lee and Peng bade farewell to the nation, there was no sign of authoritarianism in Taiwan, as remembered at sites such as the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei or the Touliao Mausoleum in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪), which commemorate former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) respectively.
That is as it should be, because Lee and Peng’s great achievements have long been integrated into daily life.
Since 1996, during the successive presidencies of Lee,
The passing of professor Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) on Thursday brings back many memories.
Peng was one of the early pioneers in Taiwan’s democracy and independence movement, who inspired many people like myself and my wife to work for Taiwan’s future as a full and equal member of the international community.
Our own story as activists in support of Taiwan began in 1973, when I read Peng’s A Taste of Freedom, in which he recounted his life story, interwoven with Taiwan’s history.
It was a gripping read that awoke my sense of anger at the injustice that Taiwanese were experiencing at the
A compilation of documents on the Formosa Incident published by Academia Historica has revealed new information about the case of democracy advocate Shih Ming-te (施明德).
Shih, a former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman, was imprisoned in 1962 for founding the Taiwan Independence League. After his release, he was imprisoned again in 1980 for his involvement in the Formosa Incident, also known as the Kaohsiung Incident, of Dec. 10, 1979.
In Academia Historica’s recent publication on the event, a previously unpublished Investigation Bureau report showed that authorities at the time had devised a plan to catch Shih, who had gone into
A new book on the Kaohsiung Incident claims that a man with an organized crime background was instructed to attack Formosa Magazine’s office in Kaohsiung several times before the incident.
The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, refers to a police crackdown, under the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, on a rally held by Formosa Magazine and opposition politicians on Dec. 10, 1979, to mark Human Rights Day.
The book on the incident, as well as the events leading up to it and its aftermath, was released on Saturday by Academia Historica and the National Human Rights Museum.
It claims that
/ Staff writer, with CNAA new book on the Kaohsiung Incident claims that a man with an organized crime background was instructed to attack Formosa Magazine’s office in Kaohsiung several times before the incident.