“Civil rights and democracy are not godsends. They are earned by people who fight for social and political liberty,” said Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, who took part in the 1979 rally against the political persecution of Yu Teng-fa for allegedly hiding information about a communist.
Also attending the event, which started at Yu’s residence and finished at Fengqiao Temple, were demonstrators such as Chen Ku-ying, Chen Wan-chen, Chou Ping-te, Shih Ming-teh and Yao Chia-wen.
“Freedom is a trophy won by protestors, never a gift bestowed by the authorities,” said Shih, who led the original public protest. “We have successfully fought for the freedom to establish media companies and political parties, as well as abolishing the emergency decree and the National Assembly and Legislature with members elected in 1947.”
Serving as Yu’s attorney during his military trial in 1979, Yao said, “Decades of struggle has resulted in the lifting of martial law and disbandment of the Taiwan Garrison Command.” The TGC was set up at the end of World War II and operated until Aug. 1, 1992.
“These groundbreaking defenders of Taiwan democracy are owed an unpayable debt of gratitude,” said former Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien, who represented the Yu family in the march. “Democracy is not a scrap thrown from the government’s table, but a political right fully deserved by the public.”
The Qiaotou and Kaohsiung incidents of the same year gave rise to Taiwan’s democratic movement, according to Mayor Chen. The latter was triggered by the August 1978 arrests and convictions of former Kaohsiung County Magistrate Yu and his son.
Activists then staged a demonstration calling for the release of the Yus. Also voicing support was Taoyuan County Magistrate Hsu Hsin-liang, whose impeachment was the cause of the Dec. 10, 1979, Kaohsiung Incident coinciding with International Human Rights Day. (WY-JSM)
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