Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong
Written by Lydia Ma
The year 2011 is the centenary of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Ma administration has been drumming up various events and ideas in the past few months to ensure that October 10, 2011 will be celebrated as never before.
However, this seemingly important date and milestone has so far been greeted with debate and cynicism in mainstream society.
A few social organizations and churches have been tapped by the Ma administration to promote Double Ten 2011, prompting the theological magazine “Logos” to call for a forum and get some theological perspective on all the hoopla.
On December 16, 2010, theologians and professors from Yu-Shan Seminary and Taiwan Theological College and Seminary (TTCS) convened at Taipei East Gate Presbyterian Church to examine Double Ten 2011 from a theological perspective and offer a few guidelines to participating churches and organizations.
“This centenary, Double Ten 2011, is a paradox of sorts for Taiwan,” said renowned TTCS professor and academic dean, Dr. Cheng Yang-en, who specializes in church history.
He added that the Ma administration has been trying to associate the founding of the ROC with Taiwan as a country, but so far, these attempts are like hammering square pegs into round holes. People simply don’t care and they haven’t forgotten this administration’s record of injustice and oppression toward its people, which gives people even less reasons to want to join in the celebration.
Cheng underscored that, it was barely 20 years ago that the term “ROC” began to take root and bear significance in mainstream Taiwanese society and it began because former President Lee Teng-hui, during his term as Chairman of the KMT, initiated the “Taiwanization” of the KMT.
In contrast, the Ma administration is dragging the whole country backward instead of forward and forcing a non-existent sense of national identity on Taiwanese people. This phenomenon prompted one Taipei City Councilor, Hsu Chia-Ching, at the forum to exclaim, “The overthrow of the Manchurian dynasty and the Hsinhai Revolution – what do they have to do with Taiwan?”
