Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai said on Tuesday that a design competition launched by an office under her ministry aimed at celebrating the life and marriage of the late President Chiang Kai-shek and his wife was grossly 'inappropriate.'
'It is absolutely inappropriate,' Lung told a group of victims of political persecution this afternoon. As a government unit and a subordinate organization of the Ministry of Culture, the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Management Office should be more sensitive to history when organizing such events, she pointed out.
Lung made the remarks a day after the design competition, which encouraged the public to submit creative designs that were inspired by stories about Chiang and his wife, was met with public criticism.
The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a monument and tourist attraction in Taipei that was built in Chiang's memory. However, he is widely regarded by victims of Taiwan's 228 Incident of 1947 and the ensuing White Terror era as the culprit behind the tragedies, in which, by some estimates, hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese, many of them members of Taiwan's intellectual elite, were killed or imprisoned by Chiang's government.
Lung told local reporters that she will communicate with officials from the office and possibly redefine the role of the memorial hall and reconsider what should be exhibited and how space should be used in the hall.
Asked if the hall will show both the pros and cons of Chiang in the future, Lung said she 'does not rule out the possibility.' However, she added that the hall should not be limited to showcasing the life of an individual but should also serve as a window on Taiwan to show the development of its culture and history.
She concluded that the most important task for her ministry at present is to document the histories of the aging victims and to discuss the role of the memorial hall. The office decided on later Tuesday to suspend the event due to the public outcry.