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Group reminds Ma to
support Tibet
SNOWED UNDER: By sending 10,000 e-mails to the
Presidential Office¡¦s mailbox, Taiwan Friends of Tibet hopes to put pressure on
President Ma to show his support for Tibet
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter
Taiwan Friends of Tibet (TFOT) yesterday launched a campaign to bombard the
Presidential Office with e-mails, reminding President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) of his
promise to show concern for human rights conditions amid rising number of
Tibetan self-immolations.
¡§We started this campaign because we want to remind the president about the
promise he made in 2008 while running for his first term as president,¡¨ TFOT
vice-president Yiong Cong-ziin (·¨ªøÂí) said.
¡§As many world leaders have spoken about the increasing number of
self-immolations by Tibetans, we want to remind the president that it¡¦s time for
him to show his concern ¡X as he promised in 2008 ¡X about human rights conditions
in Tibet,¡¨ Yiong added.
On March 18, 2008, just a few days before the voting day for the presidential
election on March 22, Ma, as a candidate, condemned China¡¦s violent crackdown on
the Tibetans and promised that he would continue to show his concern.
He called the crackdowns ¡§cruel and foolish,¡¨ and asked the Chinese government
to immediately stop, adding that he would not rule out boycotting the Beijing
Olympics if the crackdowns continued after his election.
While Ma used strong words in condemning human rights violations in Tibet, ¡§he
has never spoken a word about them since he was elected president,¡¨ Yiong said.
Since March last year, about 100 Tibetans have self-immolated in protest against
Chinese repressive policies in Tibet, and called for freedom of religion, the
return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet and Tibetan independence.
¡§Under pressure from China, Ma has not only been silent on human rights
conditions in Tibet, he has also stopped talking about human rights violations
in China in general,¡¨ Yiong said.
¡§This is not right. As Taiwan tries to enhance cross-strait exchanges, we should
not give up on our stance on human rights. This is an issue that should be
brought about during cross-strait talks, like many other countries have done
when interacting with China,¡¨ he added.
He said he hopes to put pressure on the Presidential Office by sending many
e-mails to the Presidential Office¡¦s mailbox.
¡§At the moment, the objective is to gather 10,000 people to send e-mails,¡¨ Yiong
added.
Hours after the event was launched, more than 170 people have joined as of press
time.
Those who are interested may do so by filling in their names and addresses
online at goo.gl/5mRY6, and an automatically generated e-mail would be delivered
to the Presidential Office¡¦s mailbox after hitting the ¡§sign¡¨ button.
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