Chen Shui-bian
* To the Taiwanese people, the May 20 inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian is the coming to fruition of their long struggle for freedom. In past decades, the Americans have naively propagated Taiwan as a role model of democracy at work, while the Taiwanese continued to suffer suppression by the nationalist government. The Kuomintang systematically jailed the outspoken Taiwanese, with some never to be seen again. Taiwanese children were forbidden to speak their native tongue at school and were strictly punished or fined for this violation. Taiwanese were treated as second-class citizens and kept quiet with fear tactics.
The pseudo-democracy did not produce freedom for the Taiwanese, but rather produced some of the wealthiest (if we dare to say the most corrupt) government officials in the world. Just as I jubilated over the inauguration of Nelson Mandela, so will I be with Chen. The dream lives on.
JERRY HSU
Irvine
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