Kaohsiung
MRT art illuminated
LIGHTING UP: The Red Line of
the Kaohsiung MRT will open tomorrow afternoon. Passengers may ride for free for
until the end of the Tombsweeping holiday
By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER IN
KAOHSIUNG
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008, Page 2
The illumination of the world's largest public glass art work -- the Dome of
Light -- at Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System's Formosa Boulevard Station yesterday
marked the official beginning of the city's era of transformation.
During the opening ceremony held under the dome yesterday, Kaohsiung Rapid
Transit Corp (KRTC) chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵) announced the company's plan to
commence operation of the north-south Red Line tomorrow afternoon.
The launch was confirmed after the company obtained its permit of operation from
the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday morning, Lin
said.
During an inspection of the Red Line on Tuesday, MOTC inspectors gave the
company a conditional green light of operation, demanding the company correct
five flaws, including running tests of all ticketing machines and obtaining
official documents proving the safety of the system's firefighting equipment.
Free rides will be granted to passengers for a period of one month through the
end of the Tombsweeping holiday early next month, Lin said yesterday.
The new service is expected to bring major changes to the lifestyle of Kaohsiung
residents as this is the city's first rapid transit route.
Yesterday's ceremony was held at the Formosa Boulevard Station, which is near
the site of the Kaohsiung Incident.
The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, took place on Dec.
10, 1979, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government cracked down and
imprisoned participants in an anti-government parade organized by Formosa
magazine.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who attended the ceremony, said the illumination
of the dome is particularly meaningful to Taiwanese people, who have been
pursuing freedom and democracy.
The 660m2 dome, created by Italian maestro Narcissus Quagliata, embodies the
incident in the art work, the KRTC said.
The work displays the spirit of "tolerance" through the incorporation of the
elements "water," "earth," "light" and "fire" into the art piece, the KRTC said.
"I was aware that here in this square a very important incident happened,"
Quagliata said. "I felt it was a responsible and interesting thing to relink and
include that in our project so that people will remember the incident."
The dome, which is composed of four major quadrants, also explores themes
related to reincarnation such as "birth, growth, honor, destruction and
rebirth," the KRTC said.
"Transportation and transformation are linked," Quagliata said.
"When a city decides to change, the first thing it changes is the way people
move," Quagliata told the Taipei Times.
"When that happens, the city transforms itself, and there is an opportunity for
many things to happen, in art, business, lifestyle and many departments," he
said.
Premier
Chang agrees to 'Taiwan Weekly' inquest
SHAMELESS: Ma Ying-jeou said
that a newspaper that has published unsubstantiated accusations against leading
KMT figures would go after his dead father next
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
and Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTERS, WITH CNA
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008, Page 3
 |
| Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, from left, Alex Fai, Yang
Chiung-ying and Hsu Shao-ping address a media conference in Taipei
yesterday.
|
The legal system will determine whether a controversial
Chinese-language weekly newspaper is illegally undermining the campaign of
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九),
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said yesterday.
"The Executive Yuan is in favor of handling the matter in accordance with the
law, but respects the prosecutor's decision and action in the legal
proceedings," Chang said on the legislative floor.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) had asked the government to confiscate copies
of Taiwan Weekly, which has published a series of unsubstantiated accusations
against leading KMT figures and their family members, and probe the newspaper's
publisher.
Wu accused the publishers of violating Article 104 of the Public Officials
Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), which states that people who spread
inaccurate information to undermine candidates may be sentenced to a maximum of
five years in prison, Wu said.
Copy in the latest edition of the publication states that more than 150,000 free
copies have been distributed since it was launched on Feb. 29.
In its first issue, the weekly claimed that KMT vice presidential candidate
Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) owns several upscale residential properties, including one in
the US. A week later, it accused Ma's wife Chow Mei-ching (周美青) of stealing
newspapers from the Harvard University library when she studied there 27 years
ago.
Both Siew and Chow have denied the charges and taken legal action.
Minister of Justice Morley Shih (施茂林) said yesterday he would refer the case to
the state public prosecutor-general.
Nevertheless, KMT Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) criticized the Government
Information Office (GIO) for failing to record and verify the identity and
address of Taiwan Weekly's publisher.
In response, a GIO official who wished to remain anonymous said that, since the
Publication Act (出版法) was abolished in 1999, people are free to issue a
publication without registering with the office.
The KMT caucus also accused Central News Agency (CNA), the state-sponsored news
agency, of being involved in the production of Taiwan Weekly because the
publication carried photos provided by CNA.
Later yesterday, CNA issued a statement saying that the photos, 13 in total,
were purchased by a group named "Tai-wen Magazine Club" for NT$15,120.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued late on Wednesday night, Ma accused his
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), of planning to
attack his late father.
"My rival's campaign team has attacked my wife and my daughters recently, and
I've heard that my late father will be the next target of their smear campaign,"
Ma said in the statement.
"As a son, I am asking my rival to allow my late father to rest in peace. I urge
Hsieh's campaign team to focus on public policies because these issues are what
the public care about," it said,
Ma said in the statement that his late father was not a perfect person, but his
past should be buried with his ashes, rather than being dug up, distorted and
exaggerated by his rival or the media.
Ma's father Ma Ho-ling (馬鶴凌) died of a heart attack at the age of 86 in 2005.
Ma spokesman Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the next issue of Taiwan Weekly would
accuse Ma Ho-ling of having an affair with a female friend some 20 years ago.
Hsieh spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) denied any connection with Taiwan Weekly.
"How does Ma Ying-jeou know what the newspaper is going to publish? Are he or
his aides present at editorial meetings with the newspaper's staff?" Chao asked.
At a separate setting yesterday, Hsieh said he was occupied with criticizing his
rival's "one China" market proposal and saw no need to change the focus of his
attack.
"It is [my] opponent who wishes to change the subject, so it is obvious who is
benefitting from the Taiwan Weekly controversy," Hsieh said.
Youth
ignorant of history, forum says
By Jenny W.
Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008, Page 3
Ignorance of Taiwanese history is behind young people's indifference to
politics, foreign speakers said yesterday at a Taiwan Society sponsored
function.
American Jerome Keating said that young people born in the 1980s or later have
no sense of history beyond the last 10 years.
"They were born after the martial law era and have little understanding and
experience of life under the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]," he said.
Keating urged youngsters to study the history of Taiwan, which he said spans at
least 5,000 years.
He said the pan-blue controlled media were responsible for deceiving the young
about the KMT.
Keating said the controversy over government special allowance funds, for
example, was not the fault of the Democratic Progressive Party, but rather "a
leftover problem embedded in the system" created by the KMT.
Coen Blaauw, the executive director of the Washington-based pro-Taiwan group
Formosan Association for Public Relations, said he had discovered during his
two-week campus tour that most young people were confused about their
nationality.
"Many young people in Taiwan take freedom for granted. We must urge young people
to get involved and be proud of Taiwan," he said.
He also accused the KMT of perpetuating misunderstandings about Taiwan.
Recalling a trip to St. Kitts and Nevis last year, Blaauw said many Kittians
thought the aid they received from the Republic of China had come from China.
Such misunderstandings are "unacceptable," he said.
Two more
'comfort women' pass away, leaving 22
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008, Page 4
In the past two weeks, two more "comfort women," who were forced to provide sex
services to Japanese soldiers during World War II, passed away, leaving only 22
victims in Taiwan to continue the ongoing battle for justice and dignity.
Li Wen Hung-shi (李溫紅柿) died at age 87 in her hometown in southern Taiwan,
surrounded by her children. She was abducted by the Japanese army at age 19 and
was forced to be a sex slave in Hong Kong for two years.
The other woman, Chen Mei, 85, died after a seizure early this month. She had
been imprisoned on the Chinese island of Hainan from 1943 to 1945.
The remaining comfort women are all in their 80s or 90s. Several lawsuits to win
an apology from the Japanese government have failed, but they refuse to give up.
"With one foot in the grave, what can they do with the compensation?" asked
Graceia Lai (賴采兒), director of the department of international affairs at the
Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation.
The foundation is planning to stage a fundraising fair in Taipei's Yongkang Park
today.
Several former comfort women will be present at the fundraiser.
The goal is to raise NT$5 million (US$162,000) for a "virtual museum of women's
rights" on the Internet to expose the crimes committed against comfort women. It
will also be a place for all women to express themselves, Lai said.
It is estimated the Japanese army abducted at least 400,000 women in China,
Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines to provide sexual favors to its
soldiers during World War II.
In Taiwan, the estimated number of victims varies from 1,200 to 2,000, but only
58 have been confirmed by the foundation, and now only 22 are still alive.
Intellectuals must be the watermelon effect's foe
By Hsu Yung-ming 徐永明
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008, Page 8
It is not the appropriateness of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT)
referendum boycotts that is dominating debate, nor is it the cloud of
uncertainty surrounding KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九)
nationality that marks this presidential election campaign. Instead, it is the
bandwagon effect, more affectionately termed the "watermelon effect."
As many believe that Ma has a good chance of winning the election, they are
flocking to jump on the bandwagon and demonstrate their correctness. Even
fair-minded individuals are keeping their silence, while the media are
enthusiastically directing the watermelon effect out of fear of losing the
chance to score points.
Taiwan has become a de facto "Watermelon Republic."
What is the watermelon effect? It is the psychological effect of being on the
winning side. Other than hoping that their ballots are not wasted, voters want
to be in the winning camp to avoid the psychological consequences of losing.
Voters therefore end up neglecting the candidates' political platforms and their
relationship to their own welfare. Indeed, they deliberately ignore squabbles
over the character of candidates, as these background noises would interfere
with a sense of personal fulfillment. Perhaps this is the most deadly weapon in
the current election.
The media help create an environment that fosters watermelon psychology. The
question of a "one China" market is therefore covered up and disparities between
promises and actions diminished so that Ma could emerge from the green card
controversy with hardly a scratch. Boycotting referendums is also rendered
inconsequential.
All this contributes to producing a climate in which Ma is guaranteed to win.
The uncertainties of elections have completely vanished, and it would now be
more unacceptable if Ma lost -- since the maintenance of the watermelon effect
has become the common enterprise, or rather, a common conspiracy, of the public.
Therefore, the greatest danger posed by this election would be a Ma loss. The US
authorities are keeping a friendly silence over the green card issue, while
Beijing has retracted its claws and kept a low posture. Even the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) appears to be preparing for the transition of power.
If Ma fails to win the election, then -- aside from once again proving his lack
of ability -- the greatest source of concern would be the irrationality of the
watermelon effect.
A rational examination and comparison of the candidates' political histories,
the effect of their efforts for Taiwan's democracy, the results of their
previous terms of office, the uniformity and viability of their platforms and
their regard for national security and sovereignty would yield a clear picture
on who is best suited for office.
This is called independent judgment, which is the main motivation behind the
establishment of an organization called the Intellectuals' Alliance: The hope
that room for rational debate can be illuminated despite the spread of the
watermelon effect.
Unfortunately, the watermelon effect has already become part of mainstream
society.
The only thing that intellectuals can therefore do is serve as historical
witnesses to another period of darkness and warn against the enormous impact and
obscuring of reason that is the result of the watermelon effect.
For now we can only comfort the disappointed and the frightened, while hoping
that fanning the flames of reason can light the way for Taiwan's democracy.
Hsu Yung-ming is an assistant professor of political science
at Soochow University.