318 Occupation

 Arab Spring in Egypt and Tunisia, Kiev's Independence Square, streets of Bangkok... and now, streets of Taipei.


I cannot believe what I am seeing. An impromptu uprising by students who stormed Taiwan's parliament and for the past 70 something hours have barricaded themselves and camped inside the building. Riot police and security forces have been called in from all over the country. Amnesty International has called for calm.

This is happening... How big is this going to be? How long is it going to last?

The people are outraged. And they have good reason to. A incompetent president president (The Economist called him a "bumbler"...) with just 9% of approval rating leading a strong majority in parliament somehow believe they can speak on behalf of the people. A pro-China regime which somehow believes it can act on behalf of the people (85% of whom do not support unification or any kind with China...) believes it can within a matter of seconds "enact" law to ratify a treaty that would flood Taiwan with cheap and substandard services from China and allow Chinese investments and manpower to enter vital industries, such as transportation, health, banking, insurance, computers and telecommunications...

What is the government thinking? Too overcome with power, too obsessed and charmed by China to think straight and think for the good of my homeland and its people? How can a government so un-democratically impose its will as the will of the people?

A slogan has been circulating "When dictatorship becomes reality, Revolution is our duty" (Victor Hugo). The people are angry. Students are angry. And these are not just hot-headed hooligans out to vandalise and destroy. Are they hooligans if one of the first things they did is establish a "ground rule" for occupying parliament and make it known to all that they will not loot or destroy anything (intentionally)? Do hooligans, within hours of entering parliament, establish a recycling system to sort out their wastes?

These students, together with opposition politicians and increasingly people from all over the country, have ideals and love the country. THey want to have a future where they and their children do not have to fear for their jobs and security because Chinese people have swarmed the country like locusts. They demonstrate peacefully and sit-in because they do not wish to live in a world where food is poisoned, products are shoddy because they come from China. They want to live in their own country, speak their own language, speak their minds and not fear persecution or detention (or worse). Taiwanese people fought years of oppression under Martial Law (the world's longest, lasting from 1947-1987). Taiwanese people went through a bloodless transition from a dictatorship to a model democracy, one of so few in Asia. They cannot go back again... they cannot go back to living under the yoke of tyranny, the oppression of dictatorship, and rule of man and obligarchs of industry and politics. They cannot. They simply cannot.



God bless the people of Taiwan, and their right to speak, their right to demonstrate and to rise up against injustice and undemocratic processes.

God bless freedom, justice and intrinsic values of self-determination and mutual understanding and dialogue.

May this demonstration be a peaceful, bloodless one. May there be wisdom and williness to build bridges and make amends in times of great division and discord.

God bless my homeland... my beautiful, beautiful homeland...

Plane landing

I stayed up till late, past three in the morning, mainly to work. But as I was working, I followed a plane till it landed safely after an almost 10 hour flight.

I do this always when members of my family are flying, something I starting doing as a child whenever my parents flew. We always flew long distances, almost always between Europe and Taiwan.

Today I followed the plane on satellite maps and online and even subscribed to the airline's web instant messaging system to keep me updated. They're not my parents, but parents of someone else, a friend. But still I care about their wellbeing. And in the aftermaths of a plane that has just "disappeared" (MH370) without a trace now for over 10 days, there is even more cause for concern.

They landed safely, i saw that. And now their wonderful tour around the world and long awaited vacation has begun.

As I laid down tonight, and grabbed the Winnie the Pooh bear that was once given to me for my birthday in the year my mum passed away, I don't know why I suddenly felt this pain and loneliness again.

I thought I was doing well.
I really did...

The pain never really goes away. The tears never really dry up. I am again reminded of those moments, those precious moments with mum, with dad.... Those moments of goodbye, moments of greeting at airports and stations...

No longer must I worry for their wellbeing or welfare. I worry and think of other people now, people who are not my parents, because I no longer have parents.

But all I have no, at four thirty in the morning on a work day, are moments in my memories, and this sense of longing and emptiness.