Taiwanese community in Melbourne shows support for Sunflower Movement

About 500 members of the Taiwanese community rallied outside the State Library in Melbourne yesterday. The rally was part of a worldwide action with other events taking place in major cities of Australia, Europe, Asia and North America to show solidarity with Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement.

At the same time as the event in Melbourne a crowd estimated at 350,000 was turning out in Taipei. This represented a massive show of public support for the student-led Sunflower Movement which has occupied the Legislative Yuan in Taipei since 18 March. The movement’s key aim is to ensure that the Cross-Strait Service and Trade Agreement (CSSTA) and other agreements with China are subject to proper scrutiny by the legislature.

Morning tea with Tsai Ing-wen

Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) spoke to a group of foreign residents in Taipei yesterday morning. She first spent some time outlining her vision for Taiwan before taking questions from the floor.  Tsai is currently on leave from her position as chair of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as she competes in the party’s primary for the presidential nomination. The primary will be decided by opinion polls conducted in the next few days with the announcement of the result expected on 4 May.

In outlining her vision for Taiwan, Tsai focused mainly on relations with China and economic policy. She had some interesting ideas about Taiwan’s future economic development.

On the issue of jobs Tsai said, “We don’t have enough jobs and enough good jobs. Despite the fact you may be able to find a job, you may not be able to find a job with good pay. So the quality of jobs is important too.” Tsai then discussed how this was related to the structure of the economy. Since the 1990s as Taiwanese businesses and capital moved to China the restructuring of the economy was delayed.

This led to Tsai mentioning the effect of large numbers of Chinese tourists coming to Taiwan. “With the outward movement of industrial production to China we are exporting higher pay, better jobs to China. With the inflow of Chinese tourists we are actually importing lower pay service jobs,” Tsai said.

Tsai presented some of her ideas for creating better jobs in Taiwan. These revolved around promoting R&D industries and locating these in rural areas. She also mentioned encouraging artists to move to rural areas. Tsai also mentioned the importance of agriculture. She said Taiwan needs more professional farmers and that people from the cities need to move to the country to get involved in agriculture. These ideas are laudable but I would like to see some more concrete details of the policies.

Families of murder victims speak at forum in Taichung

Four members of the organisation Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) from the United States spoke at a forum in Taichung last night. They talked of their experiences as victims of murder and violent crime and how they came to be activists against the death penalty. It is a common assumption that the families of murder victims would all support the death penalty. However, the speakers showed that this is a false assumption and they all sought to affirm the importance of human rights and the value of human life.

Aba Gayle began by speaking about her personal experience following the murder of her 19 year old daughter Catherine. For eight years following Catherine’s murder Gayle she experienced what she called “eight years of darkness.” She was consumed with anger. Gayle said anger is a normal part of the grieving process but many families become stuck in it.

Eventually Gayle began a process of healing through practice of meditation and study of the world’s wisdom traditions. She went on to write a letter to Douglas Mickey, the man who murdered Catherine. In the moment of sending the letter all the feelings of anger were gone and she felt peace, love and joy, she said. She then went to visit Mickey in prison and resolved to become an advocate for the men on death row.

Subtitles translated for TAEDP

I translated the English-language sub-titles for this video for the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP). The video is about a case in Korea where a woman was able to forgive the man who murdered her daughter. TAEDP have worked tirelessly to abolish the death penalty in Taiwan. While they haven’t yet been successful they and done a lot of work to ensure legal review of death penalty cases and build international pressure on Taiwan.

Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡), the executive director of TAEDP, is a great human rights activist. Campaigning against the death penalty in Taiwan does not help one to win any popularity contests. However, Hsin-yi has shown great dedication and extraordinary equanimity even when she has been threatened. She speaks about her work in this video.

Taiwan needs justice not persecution

For a long time I have wanted to write something about the detention of former President Chen Shui-bian. I have avoided it for a number of reasons. First, it has been painful to watch the downfall of someone I once greatly admired. Second, I find it hard to accept the animosity and vitriol that many people in Taiwan express toward A-bian. It is clear the KMT and its cohorts in the media have succeeded in convincing a significant percentage of people in Taiwan that A-bian is an evil monster who doesn’t even deserve basic human rights. As a result it is difficult to have a calm and rational conversation about the topic.

A must read article by Paul Katz (中文) at The China Beat finally prompted me to go back to this article that has been in draft for so long. Katz writes that 4 June marks the 185th day of Chen’s detention. That’s more than half a year. It’s too long. Remember that Chen was first detained on 12 November 2008 and not indicted until 12 December 2008. He was released and two subsequent appeals by prosecutors to detain Chen were rejected by the court. It was only after the much criticised switching of judges that Chen was detained again on 30 December 2008. He has been continuously in detention since then.

It is clear that Chen Shui-bian’s family have engaged in inappropriate financial dealings. Their actions should be investigated and tried before a court. All people are equal before the law and the fact a former President is on trial is proof of that. Nobody should escape justice because of any position they hold. It is important to remember though, there is a significant difference between doing something wrong and being found guilty in a court of law. The principles of being innocent until proven guilty and the right to a fair trial are fundamental.

From the beginning it was obvious Chen’s trial would be subject to great scrutiny and needed to be conducted to the highest judicial standards. Katz expresses it quite eloquently:

having a top-ranking politician found guilty after a trial deemed fair and impartial would constitute an immense boost in prestige for Taiwan’s judicial system, while also sending a crystal-clear message to all politicians facing similar forms of temptation. However, a conviction following proceedings that suggest Chen is presumed guilty and likely to be found guilty as well would represent a major step backwards, and risk causing a reversion to traditional views of the law as being simply a tool to enhance state interests.

Chen’s trial has been marked by ongoing events which show that the judiciary doesn’t adhere to the high standards that it should. There has been political interference in the appointment of judges, inappropriate behaviour by prosecutors and a lack of respect for basic principles of human rights. Chen’s detention has limited his ability to properly consult with his lawyers in preparing the case for his defense. Chen has a sharp legal mind and the chance to stand up and defend himself in a fair trial is something that he would have relished not run away from.

Ma Ying-jeou was charged with corruption in 2007 and subsequently acquitted. He did not spend a single day in detention. The double standard in Chen’s ongoing detention is clear and obvious. Katz further elucidates here:

detention of politicians on such charges is almost unprecedented. Over the years, numerous politicians of all stripes have been accused of corruption. Some have been found guilty and sent to prison, while others have been proven innocent. Only a small percentage has been subjected to detention (most are allowed the right to bail), although many suspects have fled the country and are currently living high on the hog (swine flu notwithstanding) in China and the U.S. Apart from Chen, however, no Taiwanese politician has been detained for such a long period of time on corruption charges without having first been convicted of a crime.

The real reason for A-bian’s ongoing detention has nothing to do with justice. The Taiwan News writes in its editorial today:

After all, the genuine source of the hatred against Chen has little to do with the question of whether he was really corrupt but lies in the fact that the human rights lawyer and fiery lawmaker and “upstart,” for all of his undeniable defects, led Taiwan’s grassroots Democratic Progressive Party in an electoral campaign that pulled the KMT down after nearly 55 years of unchallenged authoritarian and one-party dominant rule.

The Ma government had a great chance to show that it was genuinely committed to fighting corruption through Chen’s trial. Instead we got a circus, a kangaroo court and trial by media. There is no justice in Taiwan. The KMT continues to act with impunity while those that challenge its power are persecuted.

中文版：台灣需要公平正義而不是迫害

Freedom House report released in Taipei

Freedom House released its Freedom in the World 2009 report [pdf] with a press conference at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel in Taipei today. The event was hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. The 2009 report found a decline in global freedom for the third consecutive year. Sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet states were the regions that saw the greatest decline. There was some improvement in freedom in South Asia.

Freedom House’s rankings are based on assessments of political rights and civil liberties. Scores range from one to seven with one being the most free. The average of the score for political rights and civil liberties determines whether a country is classified as free, partly free or not free. Countries such as Finland and Sweden rate the highest with scores of one for both categories. Sudan, Burma and North Korea rank the lowest with scores of seven in both categories. More details of the rankings for each country can be downloaded from Freedom House’s website. Taiwan’s score was the same as last year with a score of two for political rights and one for civil liberties for an overall rating of “free”.

I watched a live webcast of the press conference on the Wild Strawberry Movement’s channel. The conference began with an introduction by Christopher Walker, Director of Studies at Freedom House, and a summary of the key findings in the 2009 report. He also noted press freedom often provides an advance signal of declines in public freedoms. Press freedom has also been in decline.

Strawberry generation stands up

Taiwan’s twenty-somethings were labelled the “Strawberry generation” by their elders. They said they were soft and couldn’t stand up to pressure. However, the new student movement that has emerged in the wake of Chen Yunlin’s visit to Taiwan is anything but soft and weak. Taiwan’s youth are standing up for themselves and speaking out against the government’s abuses of power.

The students’ protest began on 6 November outside the Executive Yuan in response to the abusive acts of police towards peaceful protestors. In response to events of the previous days the protesters issued a statement with three demands: (1) President Ma and Premier Liu must publicly apologise to all citizens. (2) National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun and National Security Bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming must step down. (3) The Legislative Yuan must revise the Parade and Assembly Law, which currently restricts the rights of the people.

On the evening of 7 November police forcefully removed the protesters from the front of the Executive Yuan. Police did this under the powers of the Assembly Law that the students were protesting against. The students then reconvened at Freedom Square (自由廣場) where the protest now continues.

Hsu Zen-shou (許仁碩), a law student at NTU and a spokesperson for the student protest in Taipei explained the protests were unaffilliated with political parties because the issue is about the people not parties. He said, “KMT and DPP are all the same. When I was a freshman I got hit by the DPP government and now I’m getting hit by the KMT government.”

Since Saturday morning the weather in Taipei has been cold and rainy. The students initially found it difficult to hire tents because it was an illegal protest. However, they have continued their protests in spite of the weather and this is symbolic of the students’ determination. “We always feel tired and wet and uncomfortable. But even if it rains cats and dogs we are still here,” Hsu said.

Students are simultaneously protesting in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu and Taichung. Hsu said, “We keep in touch with them via the internet. When something happens they can know immediately. Nobody has done this kind of thing before.”

When asked how long the protest would go on for Hsu responded, “Whether we go back home or not is according to the decision of the people at the protest. We have no leader or leader group and any big decision is made by consensus at a group meeting.”

The students have now adopted the moniker “Wild Strawberry” Student Movement (野草莓學運). The name echoes the Wild Lily Movement (野百合學運) of 1990, a student led protest that led to Taiwan having direct elections. Hsu Zen-shou also said, “wild strawberries are small and grow close to the ground.  They are very strong and never give up.” Taiwan is going to hear a lot more from these students in the future.

*The movement now has an English-language blog, TAIWAN’s Wild Berries Movement, to complement the Chinese-language blog. There are live broadcasts of the protests on Yahoo Live (check the blogs for links). There is also a flickr group for photos of the Wild Strawberry movement.

The Phantom of Police State is Back, Officially

The visit of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chair Chen Yunlin marks a historic moment in cross strait relations. Chen is the highest ranking official of the PRC ever to visit Taiwan. His five day visit to Taiwan includes talks on economic and transport links.

While some welcomed his visit many Taiwanese were extremely concerned that it threatened the nation’s sovereignty. It comes after newly elected President Ma Ying-jeou told a Mexican magazine in August that relations between Taiwan and China were between two regions. This downgraded the state to state formulations made during the terms of the two previous Presidents, Chen Shui-bian and Lee Teng-hui.

Chen arrived in Taiwan on Monday 3 November. Approximately 7,000 police were mobilised to prevent any protests. However, the actions of police went far beyond merely preventing any disruptions to Chen’s visit. Bloggers had plenty of comments on the actions of the police.

Once was a prison

The Taiwan Human Rights Memorial (台灣人權景美園區) was officially opened by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Monday, which was Human Rights Day. The park, located in Xindian, Taipei County,  was formerly known as the Jingmei Military Detention Centre (景美軍事看守所). The centre was used to try and hold political prisoners during the martial law era and was converted to a museum at the suggestion of Vice President Annette Lu. The park is managed by the Peng Ming-min Cultural Foundation.

I visited the park today. It seems they are still working on the main entrance area, but all the other exhibition areas were open. If you plan to visit I suggest waiting a few weeks until the works are finished and it is a bit more organised.

There are four halls of exhibitions in the park in what I guess were formerly administration buildings. They detail the history of resistance to KMT rule from 1947 to 1987. The photo above shows photos of members of the Taiwanese elite who disappeared during the 228 incident. Other points of interest included a screening of propoganda movies from the 1950s or 1960s. There are also many photos and materials related to the Kaohsiung Incident. There are lots of familiar faces among them as most of the current senior members of the DPP were involved in the incident. They all looked a lot younger then!

 

The block that served for holding political prisoners is now open to the public and includes some information about the prisoners that were held there. The gray concrete and reams of barbed-wire maintain a lifeless, oppressive feel to the place.

 

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) were held in room 59 following the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979. Shi Ming-teh (施明德) was held there in 1985. The cells are open and you can see what kind of conditions the prisoners were kept under. There was no furniture in the rooms, although I assume they would have at least had a bed in them.

There is another building that served as a court for trying the prisoners on the site. Its display including some newspaper clippings of reports around the time of the trial of those involved in the Kaohsiung Incident.

It was interesting to visit and experience first hand the place where political prisoners were held. It made some of history feel more immediate and real.

*more photos in the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial set at flickr.