Oah-Lō Magazine Resurrects Three Decades After Its Violent Confiscation

台南市議員邱莉莉(左起)、前公報總編林培松、社運前輩黃昭凱、公報社長方嵐亭、董事黃瑭新,秀出曾被沒收的《公報》《活路》。(攝影/陳逸凡)

Taiwan Church News
3397 Edition
3 – 9 April, 2017
Headline News

Oah-Lō Magazine Resurrects Three Decades After Its Violent Confiscation

Reported by Chen Yi-fan

On April 3, Taiwan Church Press held a press conference, entitled “Three Decades After Lifting Taiwan’s Martial Law, Oah-Lō Magazine Resurrects”, to commemorate the event of Oah-Lō Magazine(the 4th edition), which was a supplementary to Taiwan Church News(1825 edition) then, confiscated forcibly by KMT regime’s Taiwan Garrison Command on 20 February 1987. Rev Lin Pei-song, TCN’s general editor then, and Elder Huang Chao-kai, a senior social activist, were specially invited to witness this historical event in press conference.

Rev Lin recollected, during his term as TCN’s general editor inbetween 1979 to 1987, that period was the most agonizing times of Taiwan’s democracy when the event of Formosa magazine, the massacre of the families of Lin Yi-hsiung, the arrest of Rev Kao Chun-ming and etc were happened one by one sequentially.

To strengthen the social influence of Taiwan Church News in 1980s, the Oah-Lo weekly magazine was circulated with Taiwan Church News as a supplementary to cover stories about Taiwan’s democracy, Rev Lin said, adding that this was also the reason why KMT government saw TCN as a dissident media and would like to confiscate the 4th edition of Oah-Lō magazine in 1987 when it publicly called the public to concern the 40th anniversary of 228 massacre.

“As most of the dissident magazine in 1980s are either arbitrarily forbidden to publish in a political cause or under a severe censorship by KMT regime, Taiwan Church News naturally becomes a must-read news media to understand the thought of common people in Taiwan society. The readers of TCN included American Institute in Taiwan(AIT), Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council PRC, and even former President Lee Teng-hui”, Rev Lin recalled.

Taking the example of modern Israel, as a “small but strong” country yet firmly rooted in faith, Rev Lin also expressed his deep worry about Taiwan’s current status and her future: Taiwan society is still content at going around the desert day by day, even the milieu within PCT is not so much different, without a strong will to build a new and independent country. It’s all due to God’s grace that Taiwan could well survive up to date, Rev Lin remarked, adding that the Taiwanese people should drop the past bondage of slavery minds and march forward without fear into the land of milk and honey that God promised to us!

Translated by Peter Wolfe

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