Stripping of Chiang Memorabilia at Memorial Hall: 55% Object, 26% Approve

 Stripping of Chiang Memorabilia at Memorial Hall: 55% Object, 26% Approve

Source: Taipei Newspapers

March 1^st, 2017

          On February 27^th, Free Taiwan Party chairman Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) mobilized around a hundred youths and family members of victims of the 2/28 Incident in a protest march around the defunct old Keelung Train Station, and managed to sneak past the police to protest in front of a bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek. With a banner that states “Transformational Justice Cannot Wait”, and a placard that states “Never Forget the Keelung Massacre”, the group cried out to “remove the statue of the murderer! (Chiang)” to many a sideward glance from tourists. Dissatisfied at attempts to deter their protest by the police, many sought to lying down on the roads and formed a human roadblock, which caused a one-kilometre long traffic jam at the city centre. The protest subsided only after five hours when a City Hall official arrived to resolve the matter by accepting the group’s petition. Many tourists lamented the current state of democracy.

On February 28^th Tsay led a crowd to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall armed with eggs, and stated that he “would pelt the repulsive (Chiang Kai-shek) temple with foul-smelling eggs.” At the Liberty Square outside the Hall, he unveiled a banner which stated “The Génocidaire of the 2/28 Incident Stands Here”. The crowd proceeded to burn the Republic of China flag as well as incense paper for the dead. Tsay called on President Tsai Ing-wen to “issue an executive order to remove all statues of the mastermind.”

Following the setting up of the Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee in a bid to crack down on Kuomintang (KMT) assets, the Tsai government took a step further by announcing their ‘Chiang-stripping’ policies just before the 70^th anniversary of the 2/28 Incident, placing emphasis on “transformational justice”. However, in a survey conducted by the Want Want China Times Survey Centre, when asked about their attitude towards this move made by the Tsai government to strip the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall of all Chiang memorabilia (including all exhibits related to Chiang and the sale of Chiang-related souvenirs), 26.5% approved of this move while 55.8% objected to this move, with 17.7% either neutral, undecided or declined to answer.

KMT chairperson Hung stated that such a move “in fact aims at stripping all reference to the Republic of China, and will only lead to a rise in civil conflict. This is an unwise move.” With regard to the series of ‘Chiang-stripping’ policies adopted by the Tsai government in the days leading up to the February 28^th, Hung added that there “are many areas worthy of concern for the state, yet the Tsai government places priority on issues like ‘Chiang-stripping’ and exterminating the KMT as a fig leaf to cover up their failed government policies. It is disappointing that the Tsai government can only maintain their political power by hanging on to the guise of their ideology.”

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