Fielding questions from city councilors, the mayor, a member of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), said the hall has been provisionally designated as a heritage site by the city government and that anyone, especially officials, who tries to destroy it will face immediate arrest and be dealt with according to the law.

The mayor’s announcement was made after the Executive Yuan decided in April to rename the hall the Taiwan Democracy Hall in line with President Chen Shui-bian’s policy of ridding the country of the legacy of the late President Chiang Kai-shek, described by Chen as the culprit behind the 228 Incident of 1947 during which many local people were killed by the government for rebelling against Chiang’s authoritarian rule.

The Ministry of the Education, which oversees the hall, said May 9 that it will replace the name plate of the hall “on a convenient day, “ a decision that was opposed by the KMT, among whose followers Chiang still commands high respect.

Lee Yung-ping, director of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, told the council afterward that her office is keeping a close eye on maintenance work undertaken by the management of the hall before the building was designated as a heritage site to ensure that no “damage” was done to the “historical building.”

Yeh Ching-yuan, director of the city’s Law and Regulation Commission, assured the city council that the city government is empowered by law to bring anyone who damages a heritage site to justice, and said that any officials who commit this offense will be subject to punishment one-and-a-half times heavier than that for members of the public.

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