II. The Cheng Nan-jung Incident: A Martyr for Free Speech On December 10, 1988, Human Rights Day and the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Freedom Era, the weekly publication founded by Cheng Nan-jung, printed a draft proposal for the Constitution of the Republic of Taiwan written by Dr. Koh Se-kai, a legal and political expert that was exiled in Japan. On January 21 of the following year, Cheng Nan-jung was subpoenaed by the High Prosecutors Office for “suspicions of insurrection”. Following the Tsai and Hsu incident, this was the second insurrection case investigated by prosecutors in the year and a half since the lifting of the martial law. Cheng Nan-jung said he would “never appear in court”. On January 27, he vowed that “ the KMT will only take my body, they will never take me alive” and began a 71-day period of self-confinement. Around 7 a.m. on April 7, the police made an attack by force on the Freedom Era office. Cheng Nanjung then committed suicide by self-immolation, shocking the world. That day, the entrance of National Taiwan University was covered in white cloths as students sat in protest and made speeches to mourn and honor Cheng Nan-jung and protest the authoritarian system. The press ban had been lifted by 1988. Independent Morning News, which was founded just a year prior, was fearful of retaliation but still decided in its editorial meeting to print the entire draft proposal for the Constitution of the Republic of Taiwan—the very article that got Cheng Nan-jung condemned—the next day. This move not only fulfilled their obligation to uphold people’s right to knowledge but was also a concrete action to protect freedom of speech and press. 54 Unfortunately, the media landscape was still largely controlled by the KMT, the government, and the military. The mainstream media’s biased reporting heavily demonized Cheng Nan-jung. Cheng Nanjung’s grieving widow Yeh Chu-lan openly called for fair reporting from the media. This was no sudden accident. During his two months of self-confinement, Cheng Nan-jung not only continued to publish Freedom Era but also did not keep the police from knowing that he was actively stockpiling gasoline and adding metal bars to the office windows and metal doors up and down the staircase. Time and time again, he made it clear that he would resist to the end and never give in. Even supporters and fellow street activists who had only known him for 2 to 3 years knew his determination. They voluntarily took turns guarding the magazine’s office, hoping to prevent the military police from making a forceful arrest and stop Cheng Nan-jung from self immolating to resist arrest. Sadly, their hopes were dashed on both counts. The only one to underestimate Cheng Nan-jung’s determination was the authoritarian regime, which could not understand how Cheng Nan-jung, a man in his prime who loved his wife Yeh Chu-lan and young daughter Cheng Chu-mei so deeply, could give up his life and happiness for his cause. A Forerunner in Breaking Taboos Propelling the Tangwai Movement Forward Cheng Nan-jung was born in Taipei on September 12, 1947 and raised in Yilan. He had great admiration Cheng Nan-jung pictured in front of the plaque gifted to Freedom Era by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights. Photographer: Pan Hsiao-hsia 55