Lin Yi-hsiung explained

Lin Yi-hsiung
Native Name Lang:zh-tw
Order:7th Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party
Term Start:18 July 1998
Term End:20 April 2000
Predecessor:Hsu Hsin-liang
Successor:Frank Hsieh
Birth Date:1941 8, df=yes
Birth Place:Goketsu Village, Ratō District, Taihoku Prefecture, Japanese Taiwan (modern-day Wujie Township, Yilan County, Taiwan)
Spouse:Fang Su-min
Party:Democratic Progressive Party (1989-2006)
Independent (2006-present)
Alma Mater:National Taiwan University
Harvard University
Occupation:Politician
Profession:Lawyer

Lin Yi-hsiung (; born 24 August 1941) is a politician from Taiwan. He was a major leader of the democratization movement in Taiwan. He graduated from the Department of Law of National Taiwan University. He was first exposed to politics in 1976 while serving as attorney for (1908–1985) who sued the ruling KMT party for electoral fraud. Lin was elected a member of Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council in Kuo's old electorate in 1977.

Lin family massacre

On 13 December 1979, Lin was arrested for his involvement in the Kaohsiung Incident.[1] His wife, Fang Su-min, and mother were first allowed to visit him on 27 February 1980; Lin was in detention and had been beaten severely by Taiwanese police. Lin's 60-year-old mother, Yu A-mei, contacted Amnesty International's office in Osaka, Japan, after their visit.[2]

Around noon on 28 February, an unknown assailant or assailants broke into Lin's home off Xinyi Road in Taipei and stabbed Yu and Lin's three daughters. Yu and two of the daughters, 6-year-old twins Lin Liang-chun and Lin Ting-chun, died of their wounds;[3] the eldest daughter, 9-year-old Judy Linton (Lin Huan-chun), was badly wounded after being stabbed multiple times and was the only survivor of the incident. Fang was not at home, as she was visiting Lin at the time.[4] The authorities claimed to know nothing about the murders, even though Lin's house was under tight 24-hour police surveillance;[5] because of this, it has been speculated the murders were committed as a warning to other pro-democracy activists.[6] 28 February is a date generally understood by Taiwanese as intended to evoke the 228 Incident.[7]

There are no suspects in the murders to this day;[8] although an American family friend of the Lins, J. Bruce Jacobs, was officially accused and placed under "police protection", he later was released without charges and expelled from Taiwan.[9] [10] [11] [12] Investigative journalist David E. Kaplan concluded the "Iron Blood Patriots", a criminal gang, may have been responsible, under the auspices of Chiang Hsiao-wu.[13] [14]

Afterwards

Fang moved to the US with her eldest daughter in 1981; Lin Huan-chun learned piano, embraced Christianity, and married Rev. Joel Linton in 1998.[15] [16] She is now a renowned pianist and gospel singer in Taiwan.[17] [18] After returning to Taiwan in 1983, Fang was elected to the Legislative Yuan in December of that year.[19] Chen Ding-nan stated the murder of Lin's mother and daughters also motivated him to start his political career.[20]

In August 1984, Lin left jail on parole.[21] Desmond Tutu met with Lin during a visit to Taiwan in 2007, urging forgiveness and publicity for Lin's story.[22]

The Gikong or Yi-Kwang Presbyterian Church was erected on the site of the former Lin family residence off Hsinyi Road.[23] [24] A memorial service is held annually at the church on February 28.[25] Gikong was founded to provide religious services and comfort for the families of dissidents affected by the Kaohsiung Incident, and later expanded its mission to all political victims.[26] [27]

Reinvestigated

The case was reopened in 2009 by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office; it was discovered that a call had been placed from the Lin's home to a restaurant shortly after the murders, but the caller did not speak. No new interviews were conducted for the later investigation, and the investigation was closed after four months. The High Prosecutors Office concluded there was not enough forensic evidence, and further, there was nothing to tie the Taiwan Garrison Command to the crime.[28] The investigation was criticized as a sham, intended only "to prove that security agencies were not behind [the crimes]."[29]

In 2018, the Transitional Justice Commission announced it would investigate the massacre using documents from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau.[30] Some of those records had been damaged in the wake of Typhoon Nari in 2001.[31] For other records belonging to the National Security Bureau, it was not certain that all the requested documents could be declassified.

Post incident career

Lin returned to Taiwan in 1989 and became a major advocate against nuclear power in Taiwan soon after. In 1995, he ran and lost in the Democratic Progressive Party's four-way primary for the 1996 Taiwan presidential election.

Three years later, Lin Yi-hsiung became the 8th Chairperson of Democratic Progressive Party (1998–2000) and successfully ran a campaign for Chen Shui-bian as the 10th President of the Republic of China. Immediately following Chen's election in May 2000, Lin demonstrated his unwillingness to share the spoils of victory in a surprising retirement from DPP's chairmanship. Citing Robert Frost's poem, he retired with the remark that he preferred to take "the road less travelled by".

Leaving all public and party posts behind him, Lin has been concerning himself with 'reform from outside (the centers of power)' as he campaigns for various issues of environmental justice and parliamentary reform, most importantly in mobilizing public support against nuclear power (2000) and for reducing the number of parliamentary seats by half (2004), both of which are detrimental to Chen's and DPP's hold on power.

In late 2005, he encouraged and endorsed Wong Chin-chu's candidacy in the Democratic Progressive Party's chairmanship by-election of 15 January 2006. Some observers considered Wong as the reformist candidate because the two other candidates each represented the then president and premier's factions respectively. Lacking a factional base, however, Wong was only able to marshall 9.4% of the votes.

Less than two weeks later, on 24 January 2006, Lin Yi-hsiung renounced membership of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan. He said the elections of recent years had become partisan dogfights, resulting in national upheaval. He therefore had no intention of serving in the party's administration, nor of running for public office for the party. According to Lin Yi-hsiung, it was no longer meaningful to be a DPP member, and he has chosen to be a non-partisan citizen of his democratic country.

Despite this, Lin recently endorsed and campaigned for the Democratic Progressive Party's two candidates in the December 2006 mayoral elections. Lin went on the campaign trail for Frank Hsieh (candidate for Mayor of Taipei City) and Chen Chu (candidate for Mayor of Kaohsiung City), both of whom are long time friends of his dating back to the late 1970s. He states that despite all its vices, the Democratic Progressive Party still remains the most progressive party in Taiwan.[32]

On 22 April 2014, Lin Yi-hsiung began a hunger strike at Taipei's Gikong Presbyterian Church to demand that the government halt the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City's Gongliao District, while also calling for an amendment to the referendum law. Lin intended to sustain the fast until construction of the nuclear power plant was halted.[33] [34] He ended the strike eight days later when the government pledged to halt construction on the power plant.[35]

Notes and References

  1. News: Of mothers and daughters . Lai . Cheryl . February 3, 2000 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  2. News: A Dictatorship That Grew Up . Kristof . Nicholas D. . February 16, 1992 . The New York Times Magazine . 2 April 2019.
  3. News: Lin family comes to terms with twins' murder . Lin . Irene . January 19, 2000 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019 . It would have been their 26th birthday on Feb. 2 of [2000]. They should have had dates like other girls at their age. And they might have married like their elder sister did..
  4. News: Lin says renaming hall an insult . Chang . Rich . March 1, 2009 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  5. Book: Roy . Denny . 2003. Taiwan: A Political History . registration . Cornell University Press . Ithaca . 9780801488054 .
  6. News: Declassification slowing justice process: source . Chen . Yu-fu . December 31, 2018 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  7. Book: Cheng, Wendy . Island X: Taiwanese Student Migrants, Campus Spies, and Cold War Activism . 2023 . . 9780295752051 . Seattle, WA.
  8. Taiwan Communiqué . 1027-3999 . February 1985 . 18 . Funeral for Lin Yi-hsiung's mother and daughters . International Committee for Human Rights in Taiwan . 2.
  9. News: Editorial: Murder probe reveals nothing new . Jacobs . Bruce . J. Bruce Jacobs . September 13, 2009 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  10. News: Judicial Yuan nominee denies White Terror Roles . Hsiang . Cheng-chen . Chin . Jonathan . July 20, 2016 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  11. Judicial Yuan nominee defends his record . Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) . Hsiang Cheng-chen . William Hetherington . Liberty Times . 2 April 2019.
  12. News: Book review: A 'big beard' in authoritarian Taiwan . Cheung . Han . August 13, 2016 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  13. Book: Wright, David Curtis . https://books.google.com/books?id=jTD6V3bKixwC&pg=PA257 . The History of China . 2011 . second . 257–259 . A Prosperous and Confused Island: Taiwan since 1945 . Greenwood . 978-0-313-37748-8 . Santa Barbara, California . 2 April 2019.
  14. News: Who murdered Mr Lin's mother and daughters? . January 1981 . 1027-3999 . Taiwan Communiqué . 2 . 2 April 2019.
  15. Web site: Linton . Judy . 2003 . Judy's Testimony . Judylinton.com . 20 August 2006 . 21 October 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141021053441/http://www.judylinton.com/judytest.html . dead .
  16. News: Lin's daughter sends support in letter . Chen . Hui-ping . Hsu . Stacy . April 24, 2014 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  17. News: Murder survivor releases album . Chang, Yun-Ping . September 26, 2003 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  18. News: White Terror survivor finds peace in music, religion . Chang, Yun-Ping . November 9, 2003 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  19. News: Opposition activist tries to bury family pain . Lin . Irene . February 3, 2000 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  20. News: Chen Ding-nan loses cancer battle . Chang . Rich . November 6, 2006 . Taipei Times.
  21. News: Lin Yi-hsiung and Kao Chun-ming released . August 1984 . 1027-3999 . Taiwan Communiqué . 16 . 2 April 2019.
  22. News: Desmond Tutu encourages reconciliation, forgiveness . Huang . Jewel . April 25, 2007 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  23. News: Lin commemorates family's 228 tragedy . Lin . Mei-chun . March 1, 2002 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  24. News: The 228 Incident: Sixty years on - Lin I-hsiung mourns his lost loved ones . Wang, Flora . March 1, 2007 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  25. News: The 228 Incident: Lin I-hsiung's family tragedy commemorated . Loa . Iok-sin . March 1, 2013 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  26. Book: Tin, John Jyigiokk . 1982 . Through the Shadow of Death from the Residence of Lawyer Lim to the Gikong Presbyterian Church . Gikong Church Committee.
  27. The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Advocacy of Local Autonomy . Lin, Christine Louise . Mair, Victor H. . January 1999 . Sino-Platonic Papers . 92 . 80.
  28. News: Groups disappointed with probe . Wang . Flora . August 21, 2009 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  29. News: Critics pan probe of 1980s murders . Loa . Iok-sin . January 17, 2010 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  30. News: Commission to look into alleged political killings . Chen . Yu-fu . Hsiao . Sherry . July 3, 2018 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  31. News: Justice commission looks into suspect political cases . Chen . Yu-fu . Hsiao . Sherry . July 21, 2018 . Taipei Times . 2 April 2019.
  32. News: Wang. Flora . 7 December 2006. Lin I-hsiung hits the trail for DPP. 1 March 2015. Taipei Times . 3.
  33. News: Wang . Chris . 23 April 2014 . Lin starts anti-nuclear hunger strike . 1 March 2015 . Taipei Times . 1.
  34. Web site: Lin Yi-hsiung: Referendum Law must be amended first for meaningful result . 2014-04-24 . Taiwan News . 1 March 2015 . 29 April 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140429045526/http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=2467064 . dead .
  35. Web site: Cabinet happy to see ex-DPP head end hunger strike: spokesman . 2014-04-30 . CNA . Focus Taiwan.