Taiwan: Removing Statues of Chiang Kai-shek
Interesting. President Chen has ordered the removal of Chiang's statues from Taiwan's military bases.
A bit more info here, which has this interesting aside on the "cult of personality" effect:
It was left to an aide to Chen Shui-bian, the DPP president, to make clear that the government regards dismantling the effigies as important in shedding the remnants of Taiwan’s authoritarian past. “The more mature our democracy gets the less we will see of this,” he said. . . . Most of the more than 100 Chiang sculptures in military bases all over the island will be moved indoors for conservation or donated to venues such as Chiang’s mausoleum in rural north-western Taiwan, where they can be viewed as historical objects, the defence ministry said. |
Well, Chiang is a polarizing figure, no doubt. The predictable political yelling and screaming has started, of course, with KMT politicians all upset. I for one am not a big fan of Chiang's rule in Taiwan or his old-time KMT. Sorry. I'm not a big fan of authoritarism, martial law, or the 50-year-long power-hogging monopoly on government either. I think we're all better off now that Taiwan's a democracy, thanks.
But, a note to that one KMT politician who claims that the removal of Chiang's statues is like a Taiwanese version of the Cultural Revolution: Get a grip on reality and read some history, sir. Chiang's statues aren't going to be destroyed, plus nobody's going to be imprisoned/executed/etc. over these stupid statues.
Anyway, everybody just relax: Chiang Kai-shek's huge, overblown, ostentatious Memorial Hall in Taipei remains untouched. (With a nice cafe in the basement that serves tasty cakes, European-style coffee, and a very refreshing kiwi fruit juice smoothie that's great on a hot day.) The MRT station still has his name; the Taipei international airport still has his name. Removing a few statues from some military bases is not going to erase old Chiang from Taiwan.
No, a open and honest debate over Chiang's legacy hasn't really happened yet. I hope it happens someday soon. The flap over the statues is an indication that there's a lot of pent-up emotion that Taiwan hasn't fully dealt with.