Early
Saturday morning, tens of thousands protesters, most of them wearing white,
held a protest rally in front of the Ministry of National Defense (MND). The protesters demanded MND to provide truth
under of a young soldier’s horrible death at the hands of his superiors. The protesters were unsatisfied with the
speed of MND’s investigation and the lack of arrests three weeks after Corporal
Hung’s death. The event was sponsored by
an activist group named “Citizens 1985”, with 1985 as the number to the Ministry
of National Defense’s anonymous tip and complaint line.
In the past few
weeks, the death of Army Corporal
Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) of the 542nd
Brigade, a graduate student from the National Chung Kung University’s Department of Transportation and Communication
Management Science, is the most talked about and discussed news in Taiwan right
now. Not only does the case involves military officers violating protocol when sending Corporal Hung to confinement,
it also involved cruel and excessive punishment imposed on Hung, even after
he raised his hand several times to request a break. And worst, the drilling officers denied him water after
Hung begged for some on several occasions.
The cause of Hung’s
death, according to one of Taiwan’s most respected media examiner, Kao Ta-Cheng (高大成),
who also attended Hung’s autopsy at the request of the victim’s family, was
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC), which was triggered by
rhabdomyolysis and heat exhaustion.
Rhabdomyolysis is
the breakdown of muscle fiber, which leads to the release of muscle fiber, a
protein named “Myoglobin” into the blood stream. Myoglobin is damanging to the kidney, and
rhabdomyolysis is caused by heat exhaustion.
When DIC is caused by rhabdomyolysis, it leads to the formation of small
blood clots inside of the blood vessels throughout the body. As these clots destroys the coagulation
proteins and platelets, blood is unable to clot and abnormal bleeding occurs under
the skin and through the body. According
to Dr. Kao, Corporal Hung received 12000CC of blood transfusion at the
hospital, which amount to double an average adult’s blood volume. In other words, Corporal Hung’s body no
longer was able to clot his own blood.
Upon arrival, Corporal Hung’s body temperature was 44℃, where 38℃ is already considered as feverish. When one’s body temperature is around 41℃,
the possibility of death increased to 30%.
My father, who was
a graduate of Kaohsiung Medical University, continues to shake his head as he watched Dr. Kao’s presentation on Corporal Hung’s physical condition on television. “The boy died a horrible death,” my father
exclaimed, "This shouldn't have happened".
The official
investigation by the military’s prosecutor’s office is still on going. As of now, the Vice Commander of the 542nd
Brigade and staff sergeants were detained.
There is also suspicion of military personnel tampering with the
evidence, which include a key video of Hung’s last days and the minutes leading
up to Hung’s dispatch to the hospital.
The country eagerly awaits the official investigative report from the
military’s prosecutor’s office.
As we approached Bo-Ai
Road on Saturday morning, one can already hear the loud sound from the activity
truck. Passersby wore various white shirts moving in unison toward the front door of the Ministry of National
Defense.
When I arrived the
designated area of the protest, there were already a lot of people there. The composition of the crowd consisted mainly
young men. There were also young women
mixed in the crowd, but another very visible group of participants were
mothers.
I spotted Huang Mama,
Chairwoman of the Human Rights for the Armed Forces (軍中人權促進會), whose son also
died of very suspicious circumstances, standing near me. Our eyes met, and I greeted her briefly and
utter a few words of encouragement. She
nodded, smiled and continued monitoring the protest. Through the protest, I saw her facial
expressions changed from contemplative to smile to pride and sometimes to
sadness with tears in her eyes.
Huang Mama |
There were also many parents of soldiers who died under suspicious circumstances at the protest. One of the most visible was Mr. and Mrs. Chen, whose son reportedly committed suicide under a blanket, in his dorm room with others sleeping right next to him. According to the ministry, Mr. and Mrs. Chen's son used a box cutter to sever his right carotid artery and wind pipe, three times, and then cut his own arms ten times.
Very quickly, Bo-Ai Road was taken over by
participants with no space to move. The
participants extended to as far as I could see.
It was an incredible scene. At
around 11am, the organizer announced that the number of participants had
exceeded 30,000 thousand.
After the skit, where young men doing push-ups begged for water with the drill sergeants loudly refused, organizers and
participants also sang songs for the armed forces with modified lyrics. The actors also recited the water verse from the military before drinking water several times. The signs of this rally were less colorful than the other rallies, but the messages were clear. The public wants the truth without any coverup.
The rally hit another emotional high when
Corporal Hung’s uncle, who, since the tragedy, has become one of the family’s
spokesperson (another one is Hung’s older sister), went on the activity truck
to thank the participants. The rally
attendees responded with words of encouragement, cheer and applaud.
Very soon after the organizer made the announcement that the
attendees would stay in front of MND for as long as it requires to have someone
with high enough ranking to come out and receive the petition letter consisted of
three demands, the organizer informed the participants that someone significant has arrived to
receive the letter.
I then saw a solemn looking Andrew Yang (楊念祖) climbing up the truck. The organizer
announced to the crowd that it was the deputy minister who would collect the
plead letter. The crowd erupted in
cheer.
Andrew Yang accepted the letter from the
organizer and addressed the crowd in a determined voice. He asked the crowd to give the MND once more
chance to properly conduct its investigation and to right the wrong from the
time on. He promised justice for Corporal
Hung and his family. Deputy Minister
Yang then apologized on behalf of the Ministry of National Defense.
There were reasonably anger from the crowd; however, I also sense the feeling of support for the Ministry of National Defense and especially members of the military, as many commented that members of the military are the ones who were, are and will defend Taiwan against external threats.
There were reasonably anger from the crowd; however, I also sense the feeling of support for the Ministry of National Defense and especially members of the military, as many commented that members of the military are the ones who were, are and will defend Taiwan against external threats.
The rally ended on a positive note as the
participants disbanded for a few hours of rest in preparation of the vigil for
Corporal Hung and other soldiers who died under suspicious circumstances while
serving in the military.
About seven thousand showed up for the candle
light vigil, including Corporal Hung’s older sister and uncle. The road in front of the Legislative Yuan was
filled with participants. The
participants used candles to form the characters for “Justice”, “Human Rights”
and Truth” and to surround Corporal Hung’s portrait.
As investigation of Corporal Hung’s death continues,
there is some hope for more transparency of the treatment of members of armed
forces and the call to end corruption.
President Ma went to visit Corporal Hung’s family yesterday as he
promised a thorough investigation and to reveal the truth of Hung’s death. Lets see if President Ma keeps his promise on this
occasion, his past records notwithstanding.
(All photos by author)
Corporal Hung's Uncle addresses the rally participants |
Reciting the water verse and drinking water |
Su Beng Ojisan at the protest |
3 comments:
Greatly appreciate this fine and detailed report of the rally! The pics are excellent too.
I wish I could have been there.
Excellent photos and great report.
Great reporting, keep it up!
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