day tripper

(AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

偶然間讀到美聯社於今年四月初發佈的一則舊新聞，原文與筆者翻譯如下：


Taiwan's Ma Honors Late Dictator

05 April 2008 @ 03:24 am EST

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan's president-elect bowed in front of Chiang Kai-shek's mausoleum Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the dictator's death, a departure from the outgoing government's efforts to distance itself from the late leader.

Ma Ying-jeou said Chiang's faults and achievements should be decided by historians but that there was no denying he was part of the island's rich past.

Chiang fled to Taiwan in 1949 after his Nationalist Party was defeated by Mao Zedong's communists on mainland China. He ruled the island with an iron fist until his death in 1975.

His burial in the mausoleum was meant to be temporary until the Nationalists could one day return to rule the mainland.

Ma, who will be sworn in as president on May 20, told a small group of visitors to the tomb Saturday that the late leader's legacy was an "important historical and tourism resource for Taiwan."

The mausoleum was shut in December when the ruling Democratic Progressive Party said the island should stop honoring a dictator. It also ordered Chiang's name removed from the main international airport and tore down statues of him on military bases.

But after Ma, a member of the Nationalist Party, won the presidential poll last month, the government decided to reopen the mausoleum every year on the anniversary of Chiang's death so the public could pay tribute.

台灣的馬英九向已故獨裁者致敬

台灣的準總統本週六在蔣介石的陵寢前鞠躬以紀念這位獨裁者的逝世週年，此舉違背了現任政府努力疏遠這位前領導者的做法。

馬英九表示，蔣介石的功過應該交由歷史學家來定義，但這都無法否定其身為這個島嶼風光過往的一部分。

蔣介石在自己的國民黨於1949年在中國大陸遭毛澤東的共產黨擊敗後潰逃到台灣。他以殘忍嚴酷的手段統治這個島嶼，直到他死於1975年。

他死後暫厝在陵寢乃是為了等待國民黨有一天可以反攻大陸。

即將在5月20日宣示就職的馬英九在星期六向一小群的到訪者提到，已故領袖所留下的遺產對台灣來說是「重要的歷史與觀光資源」。

這座陵寢於去年12月被當時執政的民進黨以不應該繼續崇拜獨裁者為由而關閉。民進黨也將蔣介石的名字從主要國際機場的名稱中去除，同時拆除部隊中的蔣介石銅像。

然而，在馬英九這位國民黨員於上個月贏得總統大選之後，新政府決定重新在每年蔣介石的忌日時開放陵寢（現已改為全面開放）以讓大眾可前往致敬。

美聯社為世界最大的通訊社，其公信力與專業度絕對是台灣各大媒體所望塵莫及。此篇報導平鋪直述，不僅完全呈現事實，也不見任何情緒化的評論。

就算蔣介石的功過真如同馬先生所言，或是如蔣孝嚴說的「功大於過」，都無法改變外國人所給予他「獨裁者」的歷史定位。相信各位讀者也都有明辨是非的能力，能夠自己做出正確的判斷。


參考閱讀：《徜徉在獨裁者的懷抱裡》