War rages over renaming of Taipei landmark

The tourist attraction, an enormous Chinese-style building in a large plaza in the heart of Taipei, was officially renamed by the central government Saturday.

Previously dedicated to late President Chiang Kai-shek of the Kuomintang (KMT) party, the hall has been under attack by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led by President Chen Shui-bian, who has called Chiang the chief culprit behind the Feb. 28 Incident in 1947 in which thousands of Taiwanese are believed to have been killed by KMT troops and others jailed in a government crackdown against dissenters and protestors.

Chen said Saturday it was "absolutely not right" to dedicate a hall to the memory of a dictator, Chiang, who ruled Taiwan at the time.

At least one legislator has suggested calling for a referendum for the people to decide the issue.

Neither side is backing down, and the confrontation is expected to escalate as President Chen joined in the fray by declaring he would remove the honor guards from the once-revered Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

Chen, whose ruling DPP had pushed for the name change, said Sunday he also wanted to close the main gate to the tourist attraction to make it off-limits to tourists.

Meanwhile, Lee Yung-ping, Taipei's director of cultural affairs, gave the Ministry of Education, which is in charge of the hall, another ticket for violating the advertising law yesterday -- for putting banners on the hall.

She issued the first ticket on Sunday, assessing a NT$100,000 fine for "tainting the entirety" of the memorial hall, which Mayor of Taipei Hau Lung-bin designated as a cultural asset.

The cultural asset preservation law was invoked to fine the education ministry for having two giant banners hung up to cover up the north and south sides of the memorial hall. Emblazoned with wild lilies, the banners proclaim the building as one dedicated to democracy in Taiwan.

As the education ministry refused to take the banners down, Lee assessed a new fine of NT$200,000. Any banner displayed should not exceed three meters in length, according to the advertising law.

"There is nothing wrong in hanging the banners," a Ministry of Education spokesman said.

No fines would be paid, the official said. "For we broke no laws," he said.

Nor would the education ministry remove the banners as was ordered.

He described the banners as "a pair of new clothes" that decorate the otherwise somber structure. "They do not taint the beauty of the building."

"We don't understand," the spokesman went on, "why the banners are considered something like an advertisement."

As for the scaffold that raised a huge canvas to cover the name plaque of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, the education ministry official said it had to be put up there as "repair" work was continuing.

The ministry was given permission by the municipal authorities to do so from March 22 to June 20.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense is planning the removal of the honor guards, a spokesman said. That would be another slap in the face for Chiang's image and legacy.

"We are consulting with the Ministry of Education on the matter," he added.

Dedicated in 1980, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall has since become an important tourist attraction, but President Chen, in an attempt to dethrone Chiang Kai-shek posthumously, called it a relic of dictatorship in memory of the "chief culprit" of the February 28 Incident of 1947 and the "butcher" in the reign of white terror that followed.

The anti-Chiang campaign has been viewed as part of Chen and the DPP's de-Sinicization efforts -- efforts to remove China's links with Taiwan.

Both Lee and Yeh Ching-yuan, Taipei director of rules and regulations, promised to give due punishment for the offenses.

"We are not going to back down, simply because the offenders are MOE officials," Yeh said.

The municipal authorities are ready to go to court to sue MOE officials, if the banners and scaffold remain.

If convicted MOE officials may be sentenced to years in prison for failure to discharge of official duties.

"Public functionaries, if so convicted, have to serve twice as long as ordinary citizens so convicted," Yeh pointed out.

Taipei's Mayor Hau Lung-bin, who is from the KMT party, meanwhile, went one step further. He said he would rename the Presidential Plaza -- in an apparent attempt to attack President Chen.

"We should call it the Plaza for the War on Corruption," he added.

Is there any possibility of a truce?

Unlikely, at least for the time being, though Lin Yi-hsiung, a former DPP chairman, has suggested that a referendum be called to end the dispute over the renaming of the memorial hall.

Lin, admired by DPP supporters for his probity, said only a referendum can put an end to the war that is further dividing the country.

People should be called upon to make a decision to keep the memorial hall as it was or adopt the new name.

It takes time -- at least a couple of months -- to call a referendum.