Comparing Taiwan to the Netherlands who fought for their independent state's existence in 1672

It would be good for those in Taiwan to study the Anglo-Dutch war of 1672. Taiwan is about the same size as the Netherlands and was bordered by much larger empires. France and England and two German states had made a treaty to attack and conquer the Netherlands and eliminate the Dutch State in this war. The Netherlands was politically divided and was a republic at a time when most states were monarchies.

The Dutch did not give up. They took drastic steps to protect their freedom and independence against overwhelming odds and they prevailed.

Don't get fatigued...

It seems like those who are after power and money never get fatigued in their pursuit of it. But those trying to defend their freedom and democratic rights get tired and have spurts of pushing forward, but then after a while they want to get on with their normal lives. Therein lies the problem -- those corrupt ones who seize power and money never stop pushing their agenda. They also always lie about it and say whatever they think will lull those already tired into giving up defending their freedoms, losing their vigilance.

We need to be ever vigilant. We can prevail, but it will take more than a month or a year.

Catch Up with the People Sovereignty March and Activities in Kaohsiung in December

Events in Kaohsiung in December "高雄市人權系列活動":

11/23~12/23 美麗島30週年及世界人權影像展 (高雄捷運美麗島站 inside of KMRT station)
PS.KMRT 正中央之非常大型 stained glass "Dome of Light" 是一個public art, which was created by N. Quagliata, based on
the main theme of "tolerance". 十分值得去觀賞

12/10 "回首三十.美麗重拾" concert ( 文化中心至德堂)

12 11 "人民住主.千里苦行" 行走高雄市區
PS. Mr.林義雄 gives a talk in the evening at the big city, after his walking, such as 台中.彰化...

12/12 "民主團結愛台灣.美麗島30週年紀念晚會" (outdoor KMRT 圓環,美麗島事件原地)

12/12, 12/13 "人權.正義.美麗島~美麗島事件三十週年紀念研討會" (高美館演講廳)
PS. 現正展示太平洋南島原住民之精彩作品. 包括撤古流的新創作

12/13 "人權之旅" 高雄市人權景點巡禮

Picture Power: Let's get the People Sovereignty March as widely publicized as possible...

Images speak volumes. Remember some classic pictures from Martin Luther King's marches?

We need to get the international media organizations to pick up on the Taiwan people's sovereignty march. We need professional photographers to spend a few days following the marchers. So let's make some phone calls, let's get to writing to our friends, letters to the editors, distributing pictures, creating press releases that can be sent to different reporters and news organizations as a basis for articles. The more publicity this march gets, the more your average busy working Taiwanese person will think it valuable, and also the more it will have an effect on grass-roots momentum and elections.




Here are some blogs with pictures...
• Darren Melrose's pictures.
• David on Formosa

Here is the Nuke4 Referendum Organization's website

Try to do a google image search on 人民作主運動 and you don't come up with many great pictures. Many of them are static. They do not capture a human element. There is no drama of a long-fought hard-won cause of right.

Pictures can speak of joy and hope and a vision for the future. These kinds of pictures will resonate with the people of Taiwan and turn them from distant spectators into involved individuals who own the cause of Taiwan. Please help capture that with your cameras, your keyboards, and your letters and blogs.



--------------------------------------
Notice how the photo from the Central News Agency shows people frowning. I think that of all the pictures they probably have on file, they deliberately chose the one with the frowns to manipulate the populace to have a vague negative feeling about the march.

Lin I-hsiung speaks out...

Lîm Gī-hiông speaks out.




This is a group that particularly focuses on advocating for referendums on major matters including Taiwan continued independence as a true expression of democracy.



Pastor Ko Chùn-bêng (Kao Chun-Ming) opens with a prayer.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dictatorship of Chiang Ching-kuo unjustly imprisoned Pastor Kao after the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident. While in prison, he wrote a poem that has become a rallying point of hope for the Taiwanese people. It is called "Chhì-phè hō͘ Hóe Sio" (The Burning Thornbush) and was inspired by the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church's 140-plus year-old motto: 焚而不燬 "Nec Tamen Consumebatur" (It burned but was not consumed). This motto in turn harkens back to the "Killing Times" of the late 1600's in Scotland where there was intense government persecution of the Scottish Covenanters who refused to submit their religious beliefs to state rule. The government made non-sanctioned field meetings treasonable and preaching at these assemblies carried the death penalty. Scottish pastors were systematically hunted down, imprisoned and executed for their stand for freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.

Roughly translated the song reads: "See the bush of thorns burning, it burns fiercely. But it is not consumed, it continues to stand. When the flames die out, there will be new leaf shoots. When the spring comes again, it will put forth new flowers to blossom. " This song has a dual meaning. On the one hand, it can refer to Christian churches (such as those in China) which are persecuted by governments yet these churches still grow stronger. And its contextual religious backdrop is the seeming defeat and elimination of Jesus by arrest, torture, humiliation and execution that was turned into the very means of redemption for God's people -- victory out of defeat, resurrection after death. The song also, and more immediately, refers to the fact that no matter how much dictatorships (such as the ROC government-in-exile in Taiwan) use injustice and oppression, eventually, justice, freedom and democracy must prevail.

This poem has been put to music by Lo̍h Î-tō in the traditional Khàu-tiâu-á, a wailing song motif used in the Taiwanese Opera -- Koa-á-hì (歌仔戯) . (This form of musical theatre - the Koa-á-hì - was invented in I-Lan in 1910. It became so popular for village and temple festivals that it spread all over southeast Asia and also China and replaced previous musical opera styles. As I understand it, the Beijing Opera copied this Koa-á-hì style that originated right here in Taiwan in I-Lan.)

Teach your children that Taiwan is a nation.

Teach your children that Taiwan is a nation. Don't buy maps or globes that show Taiwan as part of China. Of if you cannot find a correct map, make the correction yourself on the map.

Symposium on Taiwan's International Status (November 21, 2009)

2009.11.21
Taipei City, Roosevelt Road Sec. 3, No. 62

7-week march around Taiwan -- Sovereignty Derives from the People -- 人民作主苦行 Citizens are the Boss Walk

This just in from Sue Fan:
Please get the word out.
=====================================
Yesterday (10/15) while we were still in Taipei, I went to the press conference of 「人民作主運動」苦行活動 held at 2.28 Memorial Park. I could tell then that this movement indeed needs and should have as many Taiwanese as possible to come out and join.

Mr. Lin I-Hsiung (林義雄) and his friends have been planning for the event for some time. Originally, the 人民作主苦行 "Citizens Are the Boss Walk" was to begin last month. However, due to 8/8 Morakot disaster, the event has to be postponed to 11/8.

At the press conference, I was very glad to see Miss Tseng Li-Chung (鄭麗君), who was a leader of 逆風行腳 (Walking Against the Wind) early last year. She had 4 Wild Strawberry (野草莓) young friends with her at the press conference. She and her friends promised that there will be many young people coming out to join the walk from 11/8 to 12/26. Looks like this event will have many folks, men and women, young and old, participating in it.

On 10/18 Mr. Lin, I-Hsiung will participate in a short walk from Long-San Temple (龍山寺) to 2.28 Memorial Park and help distributing flyers along the way to publicize the planned event. Mr. Lin will then participate the 7-week (11/8 - 12/26) walking event. This planned walk will start in Taipei on 11/8, follows the west coast going south to the southern end of Taiwan and then turns northward along the east coast to return to Taipei on 12/27.


政黨輪替以來，台灣政治陷入行政和立法部門由單一政黨掌控，監督制衡機制嚴重失靈的困境。馬政府自恃一黨獨大，強行推動「一中」政策，向中華人民共和國大幅傾斜，造成台灣社會的惶惑不安。有鑑於此，核四公投促進會經過數個月的討論，慎重發起「人民作主運動」，要求馬總統確實遵守「台灣前途應由兩千三百萬人民決定」的競選承諾，即刻：

1. 依公民投票法第十七條所賦予的職權，就「台灣公民是否同意本屆政府在『一個中國』的前提下，和對岸簽訂經濟合作或其他協議。」一案舉行公投，並以投票結果做為兩岸會談與協商的原則。

2. 要求行政院迅即向立法院提出公投法修正案，補正現行「公投法」之不合理條文、落實主權在民精神。

我們將於近日內展開密集行動：

10月15日（四）：記者會

時間：上午 10::00am

集合地點：228紀念碑前

10月18日（日）：台北市苦行及發傳單。

時間：上午 8:30am

集合地點：台北市龍山寺對面廣場

後續：

10月25日（日）：台中座談會

11月01日（日）：高雄座談會

11月8日至12月26日：「人民作主運動」全國苦行

竭誠歡迎疼惜台灣的你/妳一起來參與。

感謝

核四公投促進會 敬上

Threatening former President Chen with the death penalty...

Michael Richardson Reports:

52台帛出了高雄(或高等) 法院已經因 外患案件要求 林志昇... court in Kaohsiung issues subpoena to Roger CS Lin as an accused for TREASON, carrying a mandatory death penalty upon conviction, and the rules in place permit Taiwan to proceed in secret

New allegations of KMT-organized crime / gangster links

New allegations of KMT-organized crime / gangster links.... Premier Wu 吳敦義...


For reference, please read the following posts:

Penghu & Gambling
KMT-spawned mafia
Taiwan's president Ma hosted American China-town mafia organization in the presidential office

Read the post from Taiwan Matters in 2007 how the KMT actually was the one to create the Bamboo United Gang in order to carry out murders.

Would Taiwan have peace if it allowed China to annex it?

One blog comment asks basically: "Why not let China annex Taiwan? Then the Taiwanese people could have peace."

We must constantly remind both our Taiwanese friends and those from other countries. The specifics of the answer need to be ever present in the foreground of their sight and thinking:

If China would leave Taiwan alone, the Taiwanese would never choose to invade China or go to war with China.

The problem is, for Taiwan at the moment there is no choice between peace and war. Peace is not the absence of war, but instead true peace is the presence of justice.

China taking over Taiwan would take away peace, democracy and human rights. China taking Taiwan would be an injustice that begets more injustice.

So the choice is between slavery or fighting for freedom -- currently in non-military ways but perhaps one day with weapons of war.

Unfortunately many in Taiwan delude themselves into thinking that being annexed by China is better than fighting for their freedom. People from many other countries share the same delusion about China and Taiwan.

So did Neville Chamberlain regarding Nazi Germany.

Allowing China to annex Taiwan will lead to more war in the future as China's aggressive expansionism and militant nationalism and leninist imperialism is felt by other neighboring countries, and not just ones on the border.

Not only this, but the entire world would be affected as other brutish authoritarian regimes are emboldened by the lack of consequences over China's actions. Many other wars would be started as these regimes think they can get away with anything with impunity.
- JL

-------------------------

Allowing China to do such a seemingly trifling little thing (to-some-people) like annexing Taiwan would be the first step down the path to World War III. In this current era of history, if China is not disciplined by the world community, it will continue down the path, and will ultimately be defeated in a world war, but because of said war, there will be untold misery, death and destruction for billions of people. (Note: billions, not millions.)

Nations of the world, do you think Taiwan is a small matter? Think again, very carefully.

China's "National" Day of Infamy -- October 1, the World's Day of shame for not standing against China's authoritarian regime

While China celebrates is brutish dictatorship, people in Taiwan can support those whom the Chinese regime oppresses. Watch the following:

"Ten Conditions of Love" will be screened in Daan park tomorrow nigh (Thursday, Oct. 1) at 7pm to coincide with China's 60th National Day. A recent documentary about Tibet "Leaving Fear Behind" will also be shown. The film's director Dhondup Wangchen has been jailed since March in China on charges of inciting separatism. The films will be shown at the outdoor theater. To access the outside theater, enter the park on the east side of Xinsheng S. Road across from Jinhua St. Here is a map. The nearest MRT station is Guting Station, about a 20 minute walk. Entrance begins at 6:30pm and is free althoiugh donations will be accepted.

There will also be screenings tomorrow evening in Taichung, Tainan, Kaoshiung, and Pingtung at the following locations:

Taichung: Taichung Broadcast Station (放送局) No. 1 Diantai St.
Tainan: Tainan Theological College and Seminary
Kaohsiung: Central Park
Pingtung: Pingtung County Cultural Center

------->NOT SURE of the accuracy REGARDING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION about the city council building screening: "There will be also showings tonight (Wed.) and Thursday , starting at 7:30 both times, at the Taipei City Council building. located at No. 507 Renai Rd. Sec. 4. That's just next to the SYS Memorial park's Renai entrance. The nearest MRT is also SYS Memorial Hall station."<------------

For more locations around Taiwan: see Taiwan Matters blog

See how the KMT subverts every democratic institution

First the KMT subverted democratic elections by its use of overwhelming advantage in stolen money as well as control of all the major media... It subverted the 2008 elections by refusing to work with the duly elected DPP administration from 2000 to 2008 but instead passed laws, and blocked laws all with a view of destroying any meaningful reform or action by the DPP government. With its control of the legislature during those years, it did nothing to help Taiwan, but did only to help create a negative impression on the DPP and to lay the groundwork for 2008.

Second the KMT subverted democratic referendums by setting such a high threshold that the referendum would not pass...

Third, the KMT subverted the justice system to cause not-guilty verdicts for its own party members. Then it used the judicial system to attack any former members of the DPP administration whether or not there was any real evidence. And finally, it corrupted the judiciary to control the outcome of verdicts related to former President Chen. (Democratic institutions were doubly subverted because the lack of impartiality both renders untrustworthy any decisions of the judiciary as well as prevents true justice from being done in the Chen case for any actual offenses he may have committed. Because of the lack of impartiality from the justices, Chen's guilt will forever remain a question.)

Now with the referendum on gambling casinos in the Penghu Islands of Taiwan, the KMT has rigged the "referendum" so that it has little chance of being thwarted by concerned citizens through a normal democratic process of persuasion and public debate. It did not follow the same rules that it did for the referendums it wished to block. It also brought all the resources of government, media, etc. to push its side and block any debate or hearing of the opposition.

Please read Michael Turton's blog post.

Don't be fooled by sham democracy. The KMT fooled much of the world for over 50 years that it was supposedly "Free China" and that Chiang Kai-shek was supposedly a "Champion of Democracy."

China's values: seizing the lands of other nations by force

Two new English words to learn:

irredentism
revanchism

Both of these ideologies are part of the driving force of China's attempts at annexing Taiwan as well as its claims to territories of other nations. (A similar thing is driving part of Russia's foreign policy these days.)

What this government in China needs to relearn is that the Manchu Empire was not Chinese. If they want to rebuild the territory of the Manchu Empire, perhaps they should return to wearing the cue and also speaking and writing in the Manchu Language as the language of government.

But China is more greedy than simply reclaiming supposedly lost territory, China demands all of Taiwan, not simply the western half of the island that the Manchu Empire nominally controlled.

We are thankful that Japan is not irredentist or revanchist. But then again, Japan is a free democracy. In this era of history, democracies tend to be peaceful instead of expansionist. The authoritarian dictatorships tend to seek war to seize territory by violence.

Sever your links with the KMT and its organized crime before it is too late

Click on this link to read the sad story of a man who seems to have gotten connected with the Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalist Party - spawned mafia -- the Bamboo United. Dead at age: 42. Ten years ago, his wife was murdered at age 33.

Corruption hovers around the KMT and its mafia-connected organizations like flies over a rotting carcass.

Addendum: When people pick one example of a DPP corrupt politician and say, "See, the DPP is corrupt, too," they fail to make the accurate distinction between individuals and systematic corruption in an organization. They also fail to realize that the ability of the few corrupt individuals who have associated themselves with the DPP to profit from the political system is because the KMT with its 60 years of one-party rule specifically design the system to be profited from by corrupt politicians in the KMT party. The KMT multiplied positions, even putting an entire redundant "provincial" bureaucracy covering the same territory as the national government so that even more KMT party elites could put government money into their pockets.

To extend the metaphor further, one could say that flies will try hang around any animal, but the animal will continue to try to swat them away with its tail, so there are never many. But a rotting carcass no longer tries to stop them. They swarm without being resisted. The dead carcass's state encourages the flies, and they multiply.

It is interesting that the word "corrupt" can refer to a political organization, and also to dead rotting flesh.

Did Ma know ahead of time?

It was quite revealing that several days before the announcement of the verdict against former-president Chen Shui-bian, current President Ma spoke in multiple ways about how he wanted to be law abiding, and that the ROC was a country with the rule of law, that he respected the law, etc.

One can infer that Ma already knew what the verdict would be, so he was preparing the political spin on it with his statements. It does not take much stretch to conclude that there were a group of KMT elites who colluded with the prosecutors and the judges (after first doing a bit of judge-shopping) to decide politically what they thought would be the best verdict for the KMT and so they as a group decided what verdict to hand down which then the judges announced.

Naturally, anyone in on that group of KMT elites' deliberations would know the verdict ahead of time, and so someone like Ma would then begin talking big about the rule of law -- since the "law" would in a day or two give Chen a life-sentence.

---------
Hopefully, the Taiwanese people will come to realize the necessity of a multiparty democracy and a balance of power. They also must realize that the KMT has not changed at all from its old authoritarian ways; this "Chinese" Nationalist Party, its legislatures and President Ma do not at all value democracy. Whenever they get a chance, they replace true democracy with a sham facade of democracy so that they can keep control in their elitist hands. For Taiwan's future national health, the unrepentant KMT itself perhaps needs to be done away with as the Baathist Party in Iraq whose decades of privilege and loyalty to a dictator gave it a destabilizing and democratically destructive advantage in manipulating elections and shutting down any separate voices. More and more, as the months go by, it seems their ilk and the ROC-in-exile KMT regime ultimately will need to be expelled from Taiwan, because they as an organization have not been able to repent of their past Leninist-Fascist authoritarianism.

Some in the international media are skeptical of the verdict. For example:
Agence France Presse (AFP)
Economist
Vancouver Sun

Taiwan News gives a good summary of the situation comparing Ma's acquittal on similar charges with Chen's conviction.
Global Voices Online has some comments by individuals responding to the verdict.

An Open Letter of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan to Obama

An Open Letter of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
to
The U. S. President Barack Obama

An Appeal of the People in Taiwan

Dear Mr. President:

Your upcoming meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, and the possibility that Taiwan may be discussed, raises again the dilemma of Taiwan’s uncertain status and is compounded by the changing situation in the Taiwan Strait. The future of Taiwan and our destiny as a people in Taiwan may be in jeopardy.

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan has been identified with the people here for almost a century and a half; we feel the anxiety of the people of this island. Believing that the Church is the fellowship of God’s people, called to proclaim the salvation of Jesus Christ, called to be ambassadors of reconciliation, rooted in this land and identified with all its inhabitants, and through love and suffering called to be a sign of hope, we issue this appeal to you.

Under the daily threat of over thirteen hundred Chinese missiles, the yearly expansion of its military forces, and its constant obstruction of Taiwan’s participation in the international organizations, the people in Taiwan feel the threat to our personal lives, the violation of our national sovereignty and basic human rights. We are concerned that, if Taiwan were taken over by dictatorial China, not only would the hard earned democratic system in Taiwan be destroyed, but the welfare of people here would be sacrificed, and the peace and stability of Asian Pacific region would be threatened.

Taiwanese people heartily love freedom and cherish deeply our democratic achievements. We do not want to live under totalitarian rule. This can be seen in the results of a recent poll that over eighty per cent of people in Taiwan are opposed to unification with China. The people of Taiwan will adhere to the principles of justice and peace, and will steadfastly defend the right of self-determination.

We believe that human rights are God-given. The right of self-determination is a principle stated in “The Charter of the United Nations,” and is a basic right guaranteed by “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Therefore, we appeal to the Government of the United States to review its policy toward Taiwan and China, to recognize that Taiwan and China are two separate countries, and cooperate with all peace and justice loving countries in the world to prevent China from taking over Taiwan by force or any other means. We also appeal to the international communities to be attentive to the wishes of Taiwanese people, assisting Taiwan to participate in international affairs as an independent country, so that the people of Taiwan will be given an opportunity to contribute to the justice, peace, and welfare of the whole human race.

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice, and to live kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan,
July 17th, 2009, in Tamsui, Taiwan.

The Rev. Leonard Tsung-jeng Lin, the Moderator

The Rev. Andrew Chang, the General Secretary

Taiwan's Judicial System is Infected by Biased Pro-KMT Judges

This just in from Luby
================================================

Prosecutor 林勤綱s theatrical performance in court (檢察官激情演出)


The media hailed his performance as touching. The problem is that 林勤綱 is not an actor paid to perform. He is a public servant getting paid to present beyond-reasonable-doubt evidence that the accused was guilty.

What 林勤綱 did was akin to singing in a library. He might be a tremendous singer, but his behavior is completely inappropriate. And yet the media applauded: praising his performance while ignoring the paucity of evidence presented against Chen.

A fellow who calls himself 《建國廣場》傅雲欽律師 wrote a very long article entitled 我所認識的林勤綱. The article, as his other articles, does not condemn judicial system's unrestrained violation of due process, does not condemn its open and completely shameless use of double standards in dealing with Ma and Chen in particular and KMT and others in general, does not condemn 林勤綱's theatrical performance with absence of legal merits.

Instead, he praised 林勤綱:
林勤綱以昔日戰友的身分指控陳水扁的罪行，相當震撼人心，也搶盡陳水扁最後答辯的鋒頭。他的「爆紅」引起陳水扁的慌張。
I expected 傅雲欽 as a lawyer to educate people about the merit of the case. He did none of that. Worse, he handed Chen an early guilty verdict (陳水扁的罪行), and cheered 林勤綱:
震撼人心
搶盡陳水扁鋒頭
他的「爆紅」
陳水扁的慌張
What kind of person is 林勤綱?
林勤綱曾跟我說他年輕時加入國民黨是充滿熱血的。
This should make us reasonably and strongly question 林勤綱's integrity as a prosecutor. We must demand to know whether 蔡守訓 and others are also KMT members.

The following, just as 林勤綱's performing in court, is completely irrelevant and inappropriate:
林 勤綱是虔誠的基督徒。他1980年結婚時，採行宗教儀式。我和事務所的同事都有去參加他的結婚喜宴。為了組織家庭他那年也買一棟房子。房子在台北市忠孝東 路七段。那時，我們覺得那是很遙遠的地方。但他說那邊比較便宜，才買得起。他的老婆是台大歷史系畢業的學妹。聽說後來又到台大夜間部讀法律系。
Why is 虔誠的基督徒 relevant? Why is 他的老婆是台大歷史系畢業的學妹。聽說後來又到台大夜間部讀法律系 relevant?

Finally, a sample of 《建國廣場》傅雲欽律師's surprisingly colorful writing in which he showed satisfaction with KMT-owned judicial system.
陳 水扁的打手說林勤綱不是「綠色」，不過是司法機關塑造的「綠色樣板」，用來迫害陳水扁而已。這簡直是異想天開，鉤索羅織。如果這種人掌權，可能比國民黨還 要兇狠。試問現今這個時代，法官還要分藍綠嗎？綠色的、挺扁的法官才是好法官嗎？別笑死人了，扁蟲！試問這些陳水扁的打手，林勤綱1979年冒著讓家人擔 心的風險，去參與「黨外」運動的時後，你們不是還在吃國民黨人或統派的屎嗎？現在雖然改吃扁屎，但扁屎吃多了，就可以以滿口胡言亂語嗎？
Notables:
《建 國廣場》傅雲欽律師: 你們不是還在吃國民黨人或統派的屎嗎？現在雖然改吃扁屎，但扁屎吃多了，就可以以滿口胡言亂語嗎？ Translated: Aren't you still feasting on the feces of KMT or pro-annexation school? Now you switch to eating Chen's feces. Do you get a ticket to be full of gibberish if you get an overdose of Chen's feces?
《建國廣場》傅雲欽律師: 別笑死人了，扁蟲！ Translated: Don't make me laugh to death, Chen-insects!
《建國廣場》傅雲欽律師: 試問現今這個時代，法官還要分藍綠嗎？ Translated: At this age, should judges still be partisan?
The last bullet shows 傅雲欽's satisfaction with KMT-owned judicial system. He sees no problem with judicial system's unfairness and violation of due process in Chen and Ma's cases judicial system's stonewalling Diane Lee's (李慶安) case for 513 days as of today judicial system's stonewalling all treason cases against Ma ying-Jeou. The sidebar shows: 柯建銘2008年8月9日控告馬英九叛國, 距今 363 天 judicial system's refusal to investigate Ma and Hau for 貓纜, 捷運木柵內湖線, and 新生高架橋改善工程
Jerome Cohen and Jerome Keating, among so many others, wrote repeatedly to criticize the judicial system's persecution of Chen. Are these people 陳水扁的打手, 扁蟲, or 扁奴?

Getting close to China is like getting close to a vomiting drunk.

Taiwan's government under Ma and his KMT party is foolish in their attempts to force Taiwan into closer connections with China. China cannot even take care of its own problems. See the following article by Reuben F. Johnson in the Weekly Standard.

Ma Ying-jeou's KMT government continues to brainwash Taiwan's schoolchildren.

The article: Activists angered by ministry’s use of ‘Minnan’ for Hoklo

The video:


Also, check out the blog post from Hui-hông in Taiwanese Identity about the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights.

Fascist-Leninist Dictators Worshipped by the KMT

There is a good article on the facts of history regarding the KMT in Taiwan.

Look at the numbers:

Chiang Kai-shek - one of the top 10 worst dictators -- Death by Government by Rudolph Rummel, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii.

The article continues...
"Even if we view Chiang from a layman’s perspective, we see that in the 50 years from obtaining power as commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army in 1926 to his death in 1975, his government held no democratic elections and his word was law. What is this, if not a dictatorship?"

"Putting aside Chiang’s responsibility for the 228 Incident, he and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) oversaw 38 years of martial law in Taiwan. According to a report by the Ministry of Justice when Ma was minister, “military courts handled 29,007 political cases with approximately 140,000 victims” under the two Chiangs. In 1960 alone, the government listed 126,875 people as “missing” and withdrew their household registration, showing just how many people were executed publicly or in secret. If Chiang, who ruled the nation through violence and political prisons, was not a dictator, then who is?

Just like any other dictator, Chiang loved erecting statues of himself. According to media reports, there were at least 45,000 such statues around Taiwan, making it the country with the highest density of statues of a national leader in the world. In addition, his dozens of villas and items that he used are now treated as historical monuments and relics — even one of his handkerchiefs is on exhibit at the memorial hall."

Ma Ying-jeou's KMT -- Fascist and Leninist

Many in the media including the Taiwan News often use the short-hand descriptor "right-wing" for the Chinese Nationalist Party. A much more accurate description is the "Fascist-Leninist" Chinese Nationalist Party. The accurate "Fascist-Leninist" label very appropriately brings up images of dictatorship. Need we name the ones in 20th Century history?

The party might have moved on to embrace democracy and freedom in this 21st Century. But the government under President Ma Ying-jeou has proven to not have changed at all. The only thing that might hold Ma's KMT party back from pursuing again a Leninist and Fascist One-party Dictatorship is the nature of the world in this 21st Century.

Taiwanese better stand up now before their legs that embody the freedom of democratic change and movement are cut off.

Taking Responsibility for Your Society

Will you stand up to unjust government and political parties with evil ideologies? Sophie did.

Nazi Germany had the White Rose Movement against the fascist dictator Adolf Hitler.

Taiwan had the Wild Lilly Movement (野百合學運) against the fascist/leninist anti-democratic KMT party.

Sadly, this new generation that grew up under the greater democratic freedoms of the late 1990's through 2008 are not even aware that there is an erosion of freedom and justice. They remain largely ignorant of what happened in the recent past. Their schools never taught them about the true nature of the Chinese party in exile on Taiwan -- the KMT. And the parents did not teach them either. In that brief era of freedom, the parents wanted to move on instead of dwell on the recent fight that had brought them the precarious and hard-won democratic freedom. So the parents moved on. The kids were not taught. And the schools which had barely changed at all continued to spew out KMT propaganda.

remove evil dictator images from among Eslite merchandise

The following is a video by ahbying that shows how Eslite bookstore has put out some giftshop items including even t-shirts that express endearment to the evil dictators of Taiwan. If you go to Eslite bookstore and department stores -- look for them and when you find them call the manager to complain. Abying calls for a boycott -- whether you do so or not, you must first go complain in loud voices to the managers of each store.

Ahbying says: "蔣友柏 has made some "pop art" shirts with 蔣介石 and 蔣經國. It takes no creativity to take one of the biggest murders of all time (CKS: 蔣介石) and put his pictures in color. How many people were killed because of these two dictators."

Taiwanese need to fight to preserve 台灣人權景美園區 Jing Mei Human Rights Park before the KMT erases its memory

Taiwanese need to fight to preserve 台灣人權景美園區 Jing Mei Human Rights Park before the KMT turns it into a "culture park" to erase the KMT party's brutal and criminal human-rights-violating past. Following is a video documenting the human rights park as it is now. This is a formal secret police prison for political prisoners. (Special thanks to Taiwan Dream Foundation blog and youtube videographer ahbying)

Ahbying: "This is Taiwan history. This is a part of Taiwan history that maybe we don't want to think about; we don't want to see. And the KMT definitely does not the Taiwanese people to remember this ... longest period of martial law ever. Just think of how many thousands of innocent people [were persecuted] just because they wanted to say they were Taiwanese ... to tell the world that they were not Chinese. Just think of how many people were probably killed. How many innocent Taiwanese people like your mom, your dad, my mom, my dad -- you know, the Taiwanese people we see every day -- how many of those people would have been locked up if they had not gone to the United States?"

Time to End the KMT/CCP's myth of China

This week's issue of World Magazine lists on its cover spanning the entire page two words in black and white caps with a background of red: "TIANANMEN MASSACRE". Would that the world's media followed this magazine's example.

This arcticle by Jamie Dean begins:

"Type "Tiananmen Square massacre" into the Chinese-language version of the popular Chinese search engine Baidu, and the first link leads to a video with this title: "The Myth of Tiananmen Massacre." A subhead describes the massacre as "a popular Western myth," and the video features a Chinese man claiming he saw no government violence against civilians in Tiananmen Square on the morning of June 4, 1989. Zhou Fengsuo tells a different story...the gunfire, tanks and blood..." [...more...]

The CCP and the KMT think nothing of rewriting history. They feel no problem with inventing myths and calling history myth if that will deceive people. They care nothing for a free press or freedom of speech but use all to uphold their unjust rule. Back in 1947, US embassy attache George Kerr's urgent reports of the 228 Massacre fell on deaf ears in the US State Department with its "China Desk" pro-China see-no-evil, hear-no-evil attitude. No Formosa Massacre was announced or remembered.

Leaders in democratic nations have to realize that the KMT party governing Taiwan and the CCP regime that governs China both are not operating out of the values that mark nations of the world from Europe to the Americas to Japan, Korea and Australia.

Ruling elites of the KMT in Taiwan and CCP in China are still operating in the imperial and colonial mindsets of the 19th century and earlier. They do not respect international boundaries. They think to grab whatever is within the reach of their power. They think that China should rule the world, or be at the top of the world, and all else annexed or at least become as much as possible an equivalent to a vassal state. They view ethnic Chinese in an almost racist nationalism so that they think about and treat Chinese citizens of other countries differently from other citizens of those countries.

The KMT in Taiwan have created myth after myth to pretend that they govern China -- because they cannot accept the governing in exile of some other country or territory. Nothing less than mythical greater China will do for them. They still foster imaginations that somehow Mongolia should be annexed by China. They claim the ocean and undersea territory all the way to the very edge and shores of Malaysia because at some time, at some legendary point in their "history" maybe some Chinese sailor or fisherman sailed in those seas. And in perhaps the biggest dream of all, the KMT nurture the hope that they may one day seize the throne of China away from the CCP, and then they can finally throw Taiwan out with the trash and be done with it. Or perhaps just cut off Taiwan's head and mount it on a plaque to be displayed in their imperial palace in some side corridor.

They seem to think that if any point in history any kingdom paid any tribute to any empire that had governed the region now known as China, that somehow this kingdom's territory should be annexed if at all possible.

They are wholly self interested, self-centered -- truly a "Center" kingdom.

What is most troubling is that so many in the international media and so many foreign country leaders including President Ma of Taiwan will use whatever mythical language that China dictates in describing the present.

Little do these foreign ministries, departments of state, and international media consider that to encourage this brutal authoritarian dictatorship in China is to expand the number of brutal dictators around the world and to expand the level of human rights abuse in other countries.

Sudan dictator -- supported by China
Myanmar dictators -- supported by China
Iran -- supported by China
North Korea -- supported by China


Sri Lanka -- supported by China. (Now that the Tamil Tigers are defeated, look for some military coup in the future if the present government in Sri Lanka looks like it is beginning to resist China's demands for access to Sri Lanka's ports for China's navy.)

How many others have been emboldened to seize power and ignore the rights of people because the regime in China brazenly continues to do so without consequence!

It is laughable to say -- we need China to help resolve the North Korea situation and to stop North Korea from having nuclear weapons. China could have stopped North Korea over and over and over again. Instead China kept North Korea afloat so that it could use it as leverage to get other countries to make concessions on other issues in accordance with its will. How can anyone expect them to stop North Korea? China will keep holding out for more and more concessions. Will Obama be so naive as to think that making further concessions regarding Taiwan's sovereignty will cause China to crack down on North Korea?

When will the world wake up from their dreams of China? China's violations of human rights are so egregious that even rose-colored glasses are not enough. But, hey, the nations will then put on blindfolds if the glasses don't do the trick.

It is time, this year, to confront China fully for all of its human rights abuses, world destabilization, aggression towards peaceful neighbors, annexation (Tibet) and attempted annexation (Taiwan), and support of dictators, regimes and their human rights violations that even extend to genocide.

Too many in this world have become Neville Chamberlains.

It is time to replace these leaders with Winston Churchills before the appeasement of China leads to a repeat of a history most dark. For that which happened is no myth.

The voice of the Taiwanese people -- pics from the 517 march in Taipei

Taken in Taipei City, in the nation of Taiwan on May 17, 2009
(I have heard one estimate so far -- not yet confirmed -- that at the convergence of the four march routes, there are at least over half a million people -- ~ 600,000 people.)
[Permission is given to copy and distribute these photos and use them in the media and blogs. The more people around the world who see this expression of the voice of the Taiwanese people, the better.]













============================
UPDATE: Here is an album of pictures from the march.
============================
NOTE: Email your photos to reporters in around the world -- both in local, national and international news media. Especially if you have pictures that show the crowds and also pictures with clear slogans and signs about why people are there marching and protesting. Give them permission to use the photos and tell them the basics -- what city, what date, what march, whom to list for the photo credit. If there are good photos to use, newspapers etc. are more likely to do a story on the event.

Video: Police illegally stop someone from crossing a public street

Someone in white shirt -- non-uniformed blocking them.

Protect Taiwan from KMT/CCP Imperialism/Fascism/Colonialism on 517

517 Rally for Human Rights and Democracy in a Free Taiwan



***Special Notes***
In Taipei:

1.) Marchers will meet at four different locations at 2pm, and will depart at 3pm for Ketagalan Boulevard. Everyone will meet at Ketagalan Boulevard by 5pm.

A prominent DPP leader will march with the protesters from each meeting point.

Location #1: Zhongxiao East Road at the Dinghao Shopping Plaza

Location #2: Minzu West Road at the Zhongshan Soccer Stadium

Location #3: The corner of Xinsheng and Roosevelt Roads by the main gate of National Taiwan University

Location #4: Bangka Avenue at the Wanhua Train Station

2.) After the rally, the DPP will stage a 24 hour sit-in on Ketagalan Boulevard near the Presidential Palace to protest the strict new assembly law. This is only the second 24 hour sit-in in the DPP’s history. The last time was in 1993, for the presidential elections (before the first direct election in 1996). See you there!!!

src: http://dpptaiwan.wordpress.com/



More info:

Taiwan Matters

Taiwan meets all the criteria of a sovereign nation

Here is an excellent letter to the editor in the Taipei Times by Michael Scanlon that illustrates clearly, yet again, that Taiwan meets the criteria of nationhood. Because of short-term economic interests, or simple ignorance, those nations that deny Taiwan's sovereignty show they value or believe the propaganda of political and historical myth over reality.

Weekly Standard article by Michael Goldfarb -- hit and miss

Factual errors and misrepresentations, perhaps out of ignorance, by Michael Goldfarb in an article in the upcoming May 11 issue of the Weekly Standard need to be corrected by sending letters to the editor.

----------------

First of all, Goldfarb needs to replace the propagandist wording "mainland China" with accurate wording. If he would like to give a longer title, then call it "People's Republic of China," or "China" for short. Taiwan is not connected with any "mainland." Taiwan is "Taiwan."

The government ruling Taiwan now has the long title of the "Republic of China," or "Taiwan" for short. From 1996 to 2008, it looked like the government was moving away from authoritarianism and colonialism towards becoming a legitimate government of Taiwan. It was also moving towards a new name -- either the "Republic of Taiwan" or just "Taiwan" as its official name. After the elections that saw the current President Ma Ying-jeou get elected and his party gain a larger majority in the legislature, it has increasingly moved away from democracy towards authoritarianism and again a colonialist attitude by an ethnic minority of elites ruling the majority population. Since these elites control the KMT party and huge amounts of money stolen from Taiwan over the 50 years of dictatorship, they can control the legislators who owe the party for the campaign financing and so are more loyal to the party than to the constituents who elected them.

President Chen did not pursue "creeping independence" but rather a gradual move from de facto independence to de jure independence. Taiwan has been independent since 1951's Treaty of San Francisco where Japan gave up its claim in perpetuity but did not designate a successor. Until 1996, Taiwan was subject to a colonialist government in exile -- the one-party Leninist dictatorship of the Chinese Nationalist Party who lost a civil war in China and fled as refugees to Taiwan.

Switzerland had de facto independence for more than a century before other nations recognized it. Taiwan has more international recognition than either Switzerland had or the United States had for several decades after it first won its independence from England.

Goldfarb is to be commended for correctly recognizing that Ma Ying-jeou did not get elected with a mandate to pursue unification with China but rather the opposite -- he got elected by pretending to be pro-Taiwan and pro-status quo of de facto independence. He got elected by having overwhelming campaign finances, a party that fully controls almost 90 percent of the television and news media, and eight years of KMT legislative obstructionism. He got elected by promising an improvement of the economy and drawing on the connection of the economic strength of the 1990's under the KMT administration of President Lee Teng-hui.

If he had run on what he is doing now, he probably could not have won the middle electorate and we might have seen Frank Hsieh with 50-60 percent and Ma with the 40 percent instead of the 2008 outcome that was the other way around.

Later on again Goldfarb gets his wording straight out of the propaganda of China -- calling direct air links between the "island and the mainland." We would not use that description for direct air links between Cuba and the USA. Note to all journalists and writers in the media around the world: stick to these words: "China" and "Taiwan."

Unlike the article's take on the situation, the Ma policy of engagement has not led to any success for Taiwan. It has led to success for Ma's real goal of eventual forced unification. China has played the KMT for fools. Each of the "concessions" China has made has only served China's interests. No great economic benefit, no large crop of Chinese tourists -- there has been nothing substantive to benefit Taiwan. It has served to cause business know-how, intellectual capital, money, etc. to flow in a one-way direction -- out of Taiwan into China.

Taiwan has not gained any more international space. Malawi, disgusted with China's colonialist attitudes and empty promises had made gestures to restore ties with Taiwan. Ma sat on his hands. He could have re-established ties with Malawi this year, but he held back -- and only to China's benefit.

The DPP is not "exploiting protectionist sentiment" but raising legitimate economic issues when the policies of Ma, so blinded by the propaganda and ideology in which he was immersed from childhood in the elitist KMT circles, that his policies are not leading to economic parity, but only leading toward a gutting of Taiwan's economy. The DPP cannot take credit for the Taiwanese public outcry at all of the poison, food scares, and corruption in China that would lead Taiwanese to want to be literally protected from China's dangerous goods. Furthermore, with the complete lack of transparency of fair market practices in China, Taiwan also needs to be protected from "dumping" and other procedures that China will design to destroy Taiwan's economy.

The KMT and the CCP have the same goal -- a 21st century Chinese colonial empire. Annexation of Taiwan to China is a mere start. The problem with KMT has is that this vision of empire can only have one emperor. The KMT and the CCP will not be able to share power. And the KMT does not wish to settle for a vassal state kingdom that their party controls. They also cannot handle settling in a separate nation that is not China.

The KMT itself probably does not know how to reach an end game with it on top of the Chinese empire. But in the meantime, it pursues whatever steps will seem to bring it more power. With that in mind, a democratic Taiwan is anathema, something to be tolerated only until they can get away with getting back to the good old days of one party dictatorship.

-JL

KMT using "Greater China" ideology to suppress any loyalty to a Taiwan distinct from China

Please see the post in the Taiwanese Identity blog.

A few quotes:

"Whereas Ma Ying-jeou pretended to a Taiwan-centric consciousness during the presidential campaign, upon his election and inauguration, he has pursued the ruthless Greater China ideology of the authoritarian one-party KMT dictatorship of his father's generation."
...
"Fortunately for the Siraya people, they had registered their ethnicity in the Japanese colonial era, and some had taken very unique Han surnames. So their descendants have been able to ascertain their ancestry and now seek to reclaim their cultural heritage while throwing off the Han culture that was forced on their ancestors.

But with the colonialist "Greater China" ideology of the Chinese Nationalist Party now currently in power in Taiwan, any attempts to revive non-Chinese Austronesian culture are either treated with neglect and indifference or even suppressed if neglect and indifferent do not do the trick to put out the fire of the cause."

The Taipei Times has an April 23, 2009 article exposing the Ma Ying-jeou administration's opposition to the struggles of the Siraya people to restore their ethnicity.

A World-wide problem: Journalism's Propaganda, Lies, Spin and Distortion

We need a reformation in Taiwan's journalism and in the journalism of the world. We also need to educate and equip the readers and watchers of the news to sift what they see and hear with critical and logical eyes and ears. The citizens in today's nations, including the nation of Taiwan, seem very susceptible to manipulation and even brainwashing by the media. Corrupt politicians, parties, regimes and despots, together with ideology-driven power wielders in the media and society seem eager to take advantage.

In Taiwan, in particular the Chinese Nationalist Party with its massive bank accounts and stolen assets from the one-party dictatorship era -- along with the Communist party in China which is being given more and more open doors, open windows and inroads by Taiwan's president Ma and the KMT-controlled legislature -- are in the best position to take advantage of and subvert the media of Taiwan even further than it already is. Taiwan Thinktank chairman Chen Po-chih issued a warning about this threat at a freedom of speech forum in Taipei on April 12, 2009 [more... from A-gu]. Furthermore, the KMT authoritarian era designed the education system to create compliant citizens who could easily be brainwashed and manipulated. Even though that era is behind us, there has not been a drastic reform of the education system.

Now more than ever, it is time for us to encourage our neighbors and friends to get educated and inoculated from this pernicious influence in the media.

Following are a few good quotes from a book, Flat Earth News by Nick Davies:

Everyone reported that "The Earth is flat." until someone bothered to check.

Definition of Flat Earth news: "A story appears to be true. It is widely accepted as true. It becomes a heresy to suggest that it is not true -- even if it is riddled with falsehood, distortion and propaganda." (p. 12)

"... the more I looked, the more I found falsehood, distortion and propaganda running through the outlets of an industry which is supposed to be dedicated to the very opposite, i.e. to telling the truth. The more I searched for an explanation, the more alarmed I became by the scale of the problem and by the complexity of its causes."

"... Over the years which I spent running around with a notebook in my pocket, of course I came to see that frequently we fail to tell the truth. The unavoidable reality of journalism is that all of our work is tethered by a deadline and we can never be free to roam as far as we want in search of the evidence we need..."

"... almost all journalists across the whole developed world now work within a kind of professional cage which distorts their work and crushes their spirit..." (p. 2-3)

"The truth is that there is ideology in journalism. Our stories overwhelmingly tend to cluster around the same narrow set of political and moral assumptions about how the world should be run."

(Flat Earth News © Nick Davies 2008, ISBN 9780701181451)

---------
Here is an editorial from Peter Wilby from the Guardian. He seems to single out the Wall Street Journal which might be considered a more "conservative" less "progressive" newspaper which might reflect his own political preferences. But his comments can be applied to the New York Times or any of the major newspapers and wire services around the world.

Ma's anti-Taiwan attitude

Original article in the Wall Street Journal

[Mandarin translation 中文]

Ma, Mafia, and the KMT

Developing --- Present and recent past evidence show links with president Ma Ying-jeou, the KMT and organized crime.

Most recent: Bamboo United gang members meet and escort anti-Taiwan racist and former GIO member Kuo Kuan-ying
(More from: The View from Taiwan)

Earlier this year: on the same week as the legislature passed laws allowing for gambling casinos in Penghu, President Ma met with the "civic organization" wing of Chinese mafia in the U.S. -- "Hip-Sing Association". He did not only meet them, but actually welcomed them into the presidential office. (For perspective: what U.S. president would dare to welcome mob bosses into the White House?). Of course correlation does not necessarily equal causality, but if the Penghu Casino's are allowed by residents, you can be certain that they will not benefit much, but rather the money will go to the mafia and other investors. You can also be certain that the mafia will organize prostitution and drugs and other associated activities as well as extortion, racketeering and other applications of force to keep its control over the gambling industry money there. (A January 9, 2009 Taipei Times article quotes comments made when Ma was hosting the U.S. Chinatown Mafia's association in the presidential office.)

CNA photo -- Ma greeting members of the Hip Sing Association

In prior years: before death of exiled notorious mob boss and assassin of Taiwanese professor in the U.S., Ma Ying-jeou's older sister visited him to pay him respects. Later when his body was brought back to Taiwan and a funeral held, his funeral was like a funeral for a head of state with many KMT politicians and many in the media visiting to honor him. (It is also true a few DPP politicians went, but the vast majority were the KMT elite.) I

And more and more questionable and shady deals will go on. As long as KMT elites are in power -- those who do not love Taiwan -- Taiwan will be treated as a place for exploitation, corruption, and making one's fortune before some glamorous retirement in China.

For a crash course on the myriad ties of corrupt politicians and the mafia, Dr. Ko-lin Chin's book, Heijin, is a must read.


Chin, Ko-lin
Heijin : organized crime, business and politics in Taiwan
(An East Gate Book)
© 2003 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
ISBN 0-7656-1219-4 (cloth)
ISBN 0-7656-1220-8 (paper)

------------------------
UPDATE 1: More evidence of KMT-Mafia connections -- reported by Taiwan Matters

Take a look at the police allowing mafia thugs to harass students participating in a legal protest at an event when president Ma was giving a speech. How high up did the order come from to the police that they must not interfere with the thugs? Were the thugs actually planted there by the KMT party or Ma himself? If President Ma Ying-jeou is not party to it, he should be outraged that police behaved this way in his country.







UPDATE 2: More on the abuse of student's rights in Tainan by police and unidentified thugs.

Taiwanese youth speak up...

This is not a "Taiwan Area", rather this is the nation of Taiwan.
I do NOT want to become a citizen of China.

Deer in the Headlights, Sheep for the Slaughter -- Taiwanese Citizens Blind to the Reality of the KMT

J. Michael Cole writes in the Taipei Times on how it is possible that the majority of the Taiwanese population in a free press society may be effectively as blinded as those under the thumb and propaganda of the dictatorship in China.

Dr. Jerome Keating writes a piece entitled, "When will Taiwan awaken ... the KMT leech has always Been at your Throat" in three parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 2, and a Post Script which surveys recent news illustrating "the condescending and demeaning attitude that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has always had towards Taiwan and its people." In the end he appeals to the Taiwanese people, "You were duped by Ma's election promises in 2008, but you still have the power to vote the vermin out once and for all. 2009 has many elections, prepare!"

March 16 talk on Taiwan - U.S. - China relations

Stephen J. Yates, a former advisor to V.P. Dick Cheney on Asia will be speaking on 30 years of Taiwan, U.S. and China relations at the Taiwan National Security Institute on Monday, March 16. (The announcement letter mentions that the talk will be in the Beijing Mandarin 北京話.) The event is from 2-4:30 p.m. There will be a time for Q&A.

It is always good to reach out to former administration officials in the United States and help them have a better connection and better understanding of Taiwan because it is always possible that they will be posted to an even higher office in a future administration.

Location: 臺北市徐州路21號Taipei City, Hsu-Chou Road, No. 21 (National Taiwan University Law School International Conference Center)

Please RSVP if you'd like to go.

RSVP fax 0 2 . 2 3 5 6 . 3 5 4 2
E m a i l : w u f i . d a t a @ m s a . h i n e t . n e t
For More information: 黃小姐 0 2 . 2 3 5 7 . 6 6 5 6

A small bit of good news for Taiwan from the U.S.

"Charles W. Freeman Jr. has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council not proceed. Director Blair accepted Ambassador Freeman's decision with regret," the statement said.

The announcement came just hours after [Dennis] Blair defended Freeman before a Senate committee.

But Freeman had become a political lightning rod since he was tapped two weeks ago for the post.

Lawmakers had objected to several controversial statements Freeman has made about Israel and Iraq. And they said the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia was too close to that country, as well as to China."

-- Fox News

At the Gravesite

浴火歷史的民主價值 --- 撰文/吳乃德 Wu Naiteh

二、二八週年將至。社會輿論的主流意見是：拋棄歷史悲情，迎向光明未來。可是在拋棄歷史悲情之前，我們是否已經從它獲得足夠的教訓和反省呢？我們已經從中知道如何建立更光明的未來了嗎？

「一個由獨裁政治過渡到民主的國家，有兩個必須履行的義務。第一個責任是對它的受難者。第二個責任是對國家的未來：確保獨裁永遠不再回來。這個國家必須創造一個新的、民主的政治文化。」一個民族如何面對它的過去，決定了它將如何建立未來。 ...continued...

[PDF text of the Full Speech]

How pro-KMT or China's media in Taiwan attempted to neutralize the 228 issue this year

Here is an article analyzing an attempt by pro-China or pro-KMT media including the China Times, CTV and CTITV to distort the issues of 228, to mischaracterize those who are seeking justice, and to divert the blame and responsibility for the massacre away from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the tens of thousands who supported and profited from this corrupt regime.

As I watched evening news cycles of February 28th, I wondered why in the world CTV went to Shanghai and kept highlighting an interview with some old man living in Shanghai who was reminiscing about the 228 events. Why go all the way to Shanghai, when you have so many people in Taiwan whom you could interview? Now we see the agenda behind it.

China and KMT loyalists cannot seem to bring themselves to directly face the evil of the regimes they followed and profited from. They speak about healing and regret, but all of their comments ring hollow --as if what is really going on in their minds if they dared say it: never bring up the issue again; don't talk about it any more; we don't want it to be used against us or be negative political baggage in our pursuit for power.

In contrast to the distortions in the media, here is an actual perspective representing victims of the KMT regime:

In an interview on February 28, Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) -- someone who along with his family has suffered the most outrageous and grievous injustice perpetrated by the the KMT dictatorship -- said the following:

“It is a great insult to the Taiwanese people when the government employs abundant resources to commemorate a man who is perceived by most historians in other countries as a dictator,” Lin said when asked by reporters for comments on the government's plan to change the name of the hall back to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

“To this day, who should be held accountable for the 228 Incident remains unknown,” he said. “All the memorial services and compensation for the 228 Incident are meaningless if it remains unclear who should be held responsible.”

[and about Ma's comments...]
"...whether or not one apologizes is meaningless to overall social progress."

"...People who have committed mistakes should admit their wrongdoings and make a sincere effort to right their wrongs — not just offer an apology..."

"...to the families of the 228 Incident victims, an apology would not erase the wounds...The key is to set the record straight and let truth about the 228 Incident be known so that future generations can learn from the past."

Taipei Times 2009/3/1

The KMT might not be afraid of the Communists in China anymore, but they certainly seem to be afraid of the truth of their past governance and their self-exalting dictators Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo.

In a letter to the editor, one reader - Kris Liao of San Francisco - comments that "Despite Ma’s gestures of reconciliation toward 228 victims’ families, the wound of the savage incident will never heal because Ma and his KMT followers continue to exonerate the Chiangs’ crimes by saying they did not do the killing themselves and therefore should not be held accountable."

One might add, when such a crucial piece of Taiwan's history and identity is not clearly taught and studied in the schools, then the current Ma government apologies are meaningless.

When the subject in Taiwan is brought up, there is often the response of "let's not talk about that." But actually that is precisely what needs to be done, in the neighborhoods, in the schools, in the work place, in the government, in the public eye. Only after there is genuine truth and reconciliation can the matter be at peace.

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So let's talk about it:

Massacre in
• Taipei at National Taiwan Normal University and National Taiwan University
• Keelung
• Yunlin & Nantou book release, individual families
• Pingtung

Taiwanese citizens: Are You Happy that You and Your Homeland Are Being Viewed as Disposable Things by the Party You, the Majority, Elected to Power?

"The KMT regards Taiwan as little more than a bargaining chip in its quest to carve out a position in China." - Michael Turton, The View From Taiwan

What Taiwanese Children Think

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

To maintain the status quo is merely to gradually surrender to China.

Ideas for Commemorating 228

Everyone has their own ways of celebrating Christmas or Lunar New Year. You might not be a certain how to commemorate 228. The following are some ideas:

• If you have relatives who were murdered or imprisoned during the 228 Massacre or the White Terror period, please click on the comments section below this post and write a brief paragraph with details. It always helps to make historical events real to a new generation when there are specific people testifying their own or their relative's experience with it.

• Some will fast and pray for Taiwan.

• Buy white lilies and place them in your home. Give white lily bouquets to your neighbors and friends with a simple card attached -- "Remembering our loved ones February 28, 1947" or simply write "228." (Please note that the Wild Lily Student Movement was a push democratic reform in Taiwan.) Taiwan's Formosan White Lily, Lilium formosanum, is a species endemic to Taiwan that has come to represent freedom, democracy and the hopes of Taiwan's people for a sovereign democratic future free and independent of colonialism or annexation by another country.

• Put up white lights at night remind people that 228 is a special significant day.

• Wear T-shirts with a logo of Taiwan or 228, or wear green. Again, this will begin to be noticed and people will realize that 228 is a special day.

• Remember by reading history: e.g. eyewitness accounts like Formosa Betrayed by George Kerr of the United States, Formosa Calling by Allan Shackleton of New Zealand

• Taiwan Publishing Company has republished both of these books and you can purchase them and give them to your friends.

• Purchase copies of the Mandarin-language translation of Formosa Betrayed 被出賣的台灣 and give these copies to your Taiwanese or Chinese friends. You can find it in the Taiwan Shop and also I have seen it in Eslite Bookstores. Many Taiwanese have no idea about their own history because information negative about the KMT was omitted or suppressed from the education system.

• Buy Taiwan Tug-of-War a PBS documentary and give it to your English-speaking friends.

• Go with family and friends to visit historic sites in Taiwan related to the 228 Massacre. There are some all over Taiwan.

• In Taipei you can visit two places in particular, (1) the 228 Peace Park and 228 Memorial Museum, and

• (2) The site of the February 28, 1980 assassination of Lin I-hsiung's family members which is now a church. They hold a memorial service every February 28th at 9 A.M. in the morning. Then at 10 A.M. everyone heads into the mountains to go to the grave site of the murder victims at a memorial park 慈林紀念林園 maintained by the Chilin Foundation. That is a beautiful place to visit up in the mountains about an hour away. It is on highway 9 just over the border into I-Lan County from Taipei county. Also, the foundation arranges many cultural activities that day including poem recitations, music performances, etc. Though memorializing a sad part of Taiwan's past under authoritarian oppression, the event is also a joyful celebration of Taiwan and its present culture and people.

• Identify with other countries that have faced similar situations. You can rent and watch at home that evening movies like "Braveheart" (Scotland), "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" 吹動大麥的風 and "Michael Collins" 邁克爾Collins (Ireland), Katyn (Poland). You can also rent the Korean miniseries 모래시개 The Sandglass about the May 1980 Kwangju Indicident where many students and taxi drivers were murdered by the Korean dictator's troops. And who can forget the shrill Communist propagandized female voice over the radio announcing the Chinese would "liberate" Tibet from the foreigners in the 1997 movie, "Seven Years in Tibet" 七年在西藏 ?

• Go with your friends to watch movies opening in theaters in Taiwan this weekend that portray fights against tyranny and oppression: "Gran Torino" Gran 托裡諾 and "Defiance" 聖戰家園. As your Taiwanese friends walk out of the theater with you after the movie ask them one simple question, "If these kinds of things happened to you in Taiwan, would you be able to stand up against them?"

• Visit the Taiwan Democracy Movement Museum 台灣民主運動館 at the Chilin Foundation Building in I-Lan County. There is also a research library there with original source material on democracy and social movements in Taiwan.

• Learn the (unofficial) Taiwan National Anthem, Verdant Taiwan. You have a choice of Amis, Hakka, or Taiwanese.

• Fly an (unofficial) flag of Taiwan (hint -- flags other than the R.O.C. flag)

Why Hillary Clinton acted as she did...

In this way, Obama's economic policy in the United States is endangering Taiwan by causing the U.S. to be beholden to China.

KMT symbolically removing freedom and replacing it with Leninist one-party dictatorship

This just in from the Central News Agency:

"Freedom Plaza Tablet to Go
On Feb. 22, a meeting by top officials at the Office of the President resolved to replace before July, the characters for "Freedom Plaza" on top of the central arch with the original ones used for the CKS Memorial Plaza.
總統府22日召開重大議題會議，討論中正紀念堂等相關問題，預定7月前掛回中正紀念堂牌匾。至於自由廣場、大中至正牌匾，等民意有共識後，政府一定尊重。中央社記者鄭傑文攝 98年2月22日"

What an insult to the victims of the KMT authoritarian past.

Will Taiwan's people stand up against this evil? Can we bring any international pressure to contain it?

A Movie Everyone Should Watch -- starting with Taiwanese citizens and the U.S. State Department officials

A teaser trailer to the movie, Formosa Betrayed, has just been released. As we become aware of interviews or other media, we'll let you know.

* Radio interview with producer Will Tiao on 2/2/2009



Will the KMT government who are pushing for the return of their authoritarian one-party-dictatorship-ways ban its release in Taiwan?

We need a Youtube version with Chinese subtitles. Also please get this trailer distributed to as many Taiwanese citizens as possible, as well as your friends from other countries.

Already in this teaser trailer there is some good historical footage blended in. This movie is not simply a documentary, though, but a full-length feature film. The more people who see it, the better.

Awareness is the starting point for changing attitudes about Taiwan.

China's citizens are not happy even though the Communist Party is firmly in power

"China sees thousands of cases of violent social unrest each year, typically as people lash out over illegal seizures of their land, environmental degradation, corruption or perceived police and government abuses." - Breitbart.com Februay 9, 2009

Why is the Ma Ying-jeou administration pursuing a policy of step-by-step eventual unification with such a corrupt abusive government such as the People's Republic of China?

How can Giant Pandas blind Taiwanese to what an inept, oppressive, corrupt, illegitimate government China has? It seems the current KMT government in Taiwan is gradually transforming into a mirror image of China's government.