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TAIPEI- MANILA ROW:
Daughter impresses in face of adversity
By Tsai Chung-hsien and Jason Pan / Staff Reporter, with Staff
Writer
Hung Tzu-chien, the eldest
daughter of Hung Shih-cheng, the Taiwanese fisherman who was killed by the
Philippine Coast Guard on May 9 speaks during an interview in Pingtung County on
Thursday.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Among the major topics of discussion
following the fatal shooting of Taiwanese fisherman Hung shih-cheng (洪石成) has
been the demeanor of his eldest daughter, Hung Tzu-chien (洪慈綪), whose clear
articulation has cut to the heart of the issue during media interviews.
“My father’s death is now a fact. I just hope the government will wake up, so
that all Taiwanese fishermen can receive proper protection,” she said.
Hung Tzu-chien, 44, is a math teacher working in a cram school in Greater
Kaohsiung.
Observers attribute her impressive speaking skills to having to deal with the
exacting demands of students’ parents.
Following her father’s death, she returned to her hometown of Siaoliouciou
(小琉球), an island in Pingtung County, to help organize funeral arrangements.
Having graduated from Pingtung Girls’ Senior High School in Pingtung City and
Cheng Shiu University in Greater Kaohsiung, her intellectual prowess is
respected by her peers in Siaoliouciou.
Hung Tzu-chien said she decided to face the public and speak out for the local
community not only because of the death of her father, but because of the
long-standing harassment of Siaoliouciou’s fishermen.
“My moral principles to seek justice and passion to help those in need are
characteristics I inherited from my father. I just hope his sacrifice will not
be in vain,” she said.
She said her father was always out at sea fishing, so he rarely had time to
spend with his family.
“On one occasion I was on the way home from elementary school and was caught in
a downpour. I ran quickly and saw my father come running for me with an
umbrella. That scene kept cropping up in my mind as I received my father’s
corpse [after the boat was towed back to Pingtung on May 11,]” she said, adding
that she was “determined to turn my father’s death into a cause to fight for the
rights of all fishermen in Taiwan, to wake up the government, which has always
neglected their long-standing predicament.”
“Has the Fisheries Agency done anything for the hard-working fishermen of our
country?” she asked. “Our fishermen have been bullied and trampled on for more
than 30 years. How could local fishermen’s associations and the government’s
Fisheries Agency not know anything about it for all these years?”
She said she hopes that when the current Taiwan-Philippines row is resolved, the
government will undertake a comprehensive examination of the nation’s fishery
rights.
In response to praise for her resolve and outspokenness in the face of
misfortune, she remains modest.
Hung Tzu-chien said she is as strong and courageous as all Taiwanese fishermen,
and she was expressing their feelings to the government.
“I do not want the government to start a war, but just to show real guts and
determination,” she said.
“We must not let the Philippine government sweep the whole thing under the
carpet. If this happens, Taiwan’s national dignity would be eroded,” she said.
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