What's with the China Post's soft spot for political murderers?
A well-known retired [Taiwanese] Mafioso, Chen Chi-li died in Hong Kong not long ago. He was the head of the Bamboo Alliance, one of the largest mob families in Taiwan. He was arrested; indicted for assassinating Jiang Nan, the author of [a biography critical of former dictator Chiang Ching-kuo]; convicted of murder; sentenced to life imprisonment; and paroled after serving seven years in jail. He then exiled himself to the former British colony. The assassination caused a sensation in the United States, where the author lived and was considered a martyr who had fought for freedom of speech. The godfather claimed at his trial in Taipei that he did it for the good of his beloved Republic of China by order of Wang Hsi-ling, director of [Taiwan's] Military Intelligence Bureau.
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...there's no dearth of busybodies in Taiwan. Our ubiquitous police turned out in droves to watch the procession from Taoyuan International Airport to a huge vacant lot in Neihu where funeral services would be held for the deceased mobster. An estimated 800 cops checked and double-checked hearst escorts and those who wanted to get into the Neihu lot where Chen Chi-li would lie "in state."
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Why wouldn't our busybodies let the now harmless godfather rest in peace?
When Don Corleone's daughter gets married, the Feds show up to take pictures of the attendees. And that's just the way it works. A person chooses to lead a certain kind of life when they join the mob, and being tailed by law enforcement is part of it. While it's understandable that Chen Chi-li's family pays its last respects, it's a little more puzzling why anyone else would. Government has a compelling interest in this case to ask, "Who, exactly, kisses the ring of this former political assassin?"
Monday's Taipei Times reports on the reception the former mafia leader's corpse received once returned to Taiwan:
Fellow gangsters said that [Chen Chi-li] did not understand why the government would treat a patriot like him as a criminal.
Wu Dun (吳敦), a former Bamboo Union member who was arrested with [Chen Chi-li] for the Liu murder, told reporters last week that "The government had treated [Chen Chi-li] very unfairly."
"It is very disappointing that a man who sacrificed himself for the county was forced into exile overseas," Wu said.
Following [Chi-li's] death and the return of his body to Taiwan, fellow gangsters, some celebrities and media have begun portraying him as a patriot and a hero.
Chang An-le (張安樂), the former leader of the Bamboo Union gang, said [Chen Chi-li] was not a normal gangster, but an idealist who had made money doing the right thing.
Such praise forced President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to complain that the media should not turn the gangster into a hero.
The China Post is a publication largely aimed at a foreign readership, so not even it can go that far. Instead, it frames the issue in humanitarian terms. Lost somewhere in the debate however, is why the KMT-controlled Taipei city government seems friendlier to public displays of fealty and devotion to deceased mafia bosses than it is to rallies in favor of Taiwan obtaining U.N. membership.
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UPDATE (Nov 15/07): Part 2 of this post can be found here.
UPDATE #2: Father Bauer at the China Post distanced himself from the paper's position a few weeks ago, and yesterday the paper seemed to back away from implying that Chen Chi-li was a patriot.
Incidentally, my position on police monitoring of Chen Chi-li's funeral is quite independent of Chen's character. Had this been the funeral of Mahatma Gandhi himself, I would STILL want police to be present if a thousand mobsters showed up.
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