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Yilan hosts event to celebrate the
life of ‘Mr Clean’
By Chiang Chih-hsiung and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with Staff
writer
Two people in Sansing Township,
Yilan County, on Thursday walk across a list of corruption cases that have taken
place since the death of the late minister of justice Chen Ding-nan.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
A memorial exhibition and musical concert
in honor of late minister of justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) are to be held today in
Yilan County, featuring a retrospective of past major events, performances in
various musical genres and poetry recitals to mark the sixth anniversary of the
passing of Taiwan’s “Mr Clean.”
Chen, of the Democratic Progressive Party, died of lung cancer in Nov. 5, 2006
at the age of 63. Throughout his political career, which began with his election
as Yilan County commissioner in 1981, Chen was described as being a long-term
progressive force in the drive against corruption.
With the theme of “Those Days Without You,” the event is to commence at 4pm this
afternoon at the Chen Ding-nan Memorial Park which is located near Chen’s former
residence in the county’s Sansing Township (三星).
Visitors to the six-month exhibition will first come to a blue-and-green bead
curtain hung over the entrance and walking through it is meant to signify
“living a life of practicality and rectitude,” as Chen did.
A trail of footprints symbolic of the road Chen had traveled is also featured at
the event guiding visitors on a tour from Chen’s former residence to various
themed exhibition halls allowing them to gain a more in-depth understanding of
the politician.
The tracks are seen gradually disappearing toward the end of the exhibition to
signify Chen’s departure from life.
Accounts of major events in the past six years — from the controversial Suhua
Highway improvement project in 2010 and the decriminalization of special fund
abuses in 2011 to the widespread protests by peasants from Miaoli County’s Dapu
Borough (大埔) against government expropriation of their farmlands ─ are projected
onto the floor at the exhibition, highlighting the setbacks that have occurred
in the country in the absence of Chen’s relentless fight against social
injustice.
“He was and will always be my pride, “said Chen Jen-chieh (陳仁杰), the eldest son
of Chen Ding-nan.
As for the musical concert, several bands and celebrity singers, including
Contemporary Music Workshop and Hoklo singer Chen Liang-yin (陳亮吟), are scheduled
to perform at the memorial to honor the late minister of justice.
All attendees at the concert are due to sing in chorus Chen Ding-nan’s favorite
song ─ Happy Sailing (快樂的出帆) ─ while holding a candle and a wreath to finalize
the event by encircling the park.
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