30 years after murder, NTU holds memorial for Taiwan democracy hero Chen Wen-cheng

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3097 Edition

July 4-10, 2011

Headline News

30 years after murder, NTU holds memorial for Taiwan democracy hero Chen 
Wen-cheng

Reported by Sam Lee

Written by Lydia Ma

On July 1, 2011, a candlelight memorial was held and a commemorative plaque 
erected in memory of Chen Wen-cheng, whose slain body was found on National 
Taiwan University (NTU) campus the same day 30 years ago. Those gathered, 
including Chen’s family, professors, friends, and others, lighted candles and 
demanded that the truth surrounding Chen’s death be uncovered and justice be 
served.

Chen, a graduate of NTU had travelled to the US in 1975 for further studies and 
was later hired by Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant professor in 
CMU’s Department of Statistics. During his stay in the US, he was an active 
member in the local Taiwanese Association and an outspoken critic of Taiwan’s 
democracy. He also donated money to Formosa Magazine, a magazine critical of 
the KMT’s political monopoly in Taiwan.

Chen returned to Taiwan in May 1981 with his family for a seminar. He was 
whisked away on July 2 by military state security agency personnel for 
interrogation. His body was later discovered next to the emergency exit of 
NTU’s library the morning after. He was 31 years old at the time.

Though the military agency insisted Chen had committed suicide and they weren’t 
responsible for his death, forensic expert Cyril Wecht, who travelled to Taiwan 
from the US, determined the cause of death to be a homicide. This conclusion 
led many to speculate that Chen was killed during a forced interrogation and 
his body purposely left at the library to warn others in NTU to stop meddling 
in politics.

Since then, PCT and various rights organizations, have been pressuring 
government authorities to divulge the truth behind Chen’s mysterious death. NTU 
has never publicly mourned Chen’s death until this year, when a simple 
commemorative plaque was placed at the site where his body was found.

Chen’s elder brother said Chen was often tattled by fellow Taiwanese students 
who were secretly working for the then KMT-government, which had no regards for 
human rights. Many of these Taiwanese students are now serving in the Ma 
administration, which explains why Taiwan’s democracy has backslid in the past 
2 years. He underscored that if the KMT wins the 2012 elections, Taiwan’s 
democracy will continue on its downward spiral to the place it was 30 years ago.

Chen’s older sister, Chen Pao-yueh, said their father has never ceased to ask 
for the truth behind his son’s death. For the family, not knowing the truth is 
a stain on Taiwan’s reputation and an offense to its people. She hopes this 
generation will rise up to the occasion so the family can see some justice 
served.

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