Two Taipei city councilors from the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union （TSU） questioned Thursday the city governments plan to list the Chiang Kai-shek （CKS） Memorial Hall as a heritage site, claiming it as a "great irony in Taiwans democratization." 

The two city councilors －－ Chien Yu-yen and Chen Chien-ming －－ aired their views in a news conference held after the city government provisionally designated the hall as a heritage site pending further study to determine whether to make the designation permanent. 

Claiming that the provisional designation is "just a city government trick" to counter the Democratic Progressive Party administrations decision to rename the hall as part of its efforts to rid the country of the mention of late President Chiang Kai-shek, the TSU city councilors said the city governments defiance is "anachronistic and ironic" when considered against the backdrop of Taiwans democratic development over the past two decades. 

The DPP administration decided to rename the CKS hall as the "Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" after President Chen Shui-bian described Chiang earlier this year at a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the 2/28 Incident as the "dictator and culprit" behind the tragic incident in which many local elites, soldiers and ordinary people as well were killed. 

Since learning that the Ministry of Education, which oversees partial management of CKS hall, is scheduled to hold a ceremony at the hall Saturday during which a plaque bearing the halls new name will be unveiled, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin, a member of the opposition Kuomintang （KMT）, has said on many occasions that he would have the police arrest anyone who dared to remove the halls name plate or put up a new one at the hall. 

Commenting on Haus response, the two TSU city councilors claimed that Haus defiance has "hurt the feelings" of the families of many 2/28 Incident victims. 

Councilwoman Chien Yu-yen said Hau that his city government team could become a "laughingstock" if it indeed officially designates the hall "dedicated to a dictator" as a heritage site. The hall was opened April 5, 1980, on the fifth anniversary of Chiangs death when the KMT was in power. 

Representatives of several associations of political refugees and families of the 2/28 Incident victims were also present at the news conference. 

Tsai Kuan-yu, secretary-general of a political refugees association, said the Taipei City governments "haughty and merciless" attitude toward the controversy "saddens and enrages" him. During the marital law era, Tsai said, more than 30,000 families were displaced or victimized due to political persecution. 

"All those tragedies could be traced to Chiang. How big an irony it is to continue worshipping a dictator with such a magnificent hall in this democratic era," Tsai said. 

To the best of his understanding, Tsai said, it is "rare and unusual in the world to designate a dictators memorial hall as a heritage site." 

For families of victims of the 2/28 Incident and those who were persecuted or imprisoned during the ensuing White Terror era, renaming the hall is "justice that comes far too late." 

Claiming that the Hau-led city governments threat to arrest anyone who dares to place a new name plate at the hall is "unacceptable to the majority of the Taiwanese people," Tsai said he looks forward to seeing martial law era political refugees come to the CKS Memorial Hall this Saturday to fight the city governments threat. 

Speaking on the same occasion, Chou Chen-tsai, president of another political refugee association, claimed the city government is handling the issue with a "martial law era mindset" while showing little concern for the feelings of the families of the 2/28 Incident victims and White Terror political refugees. 

Meanwhile, KMT lawmakers threatened Thursday to foil the DPP administrations plan to rename the CKS Memorial Hall, stating that the central government has no legitimate power to do so. 

KMT Legislator Joanna Lei, a co-convener of the legislatures Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, said the KMT legislative caucus will initiate a signature drive among legislators to demand a review of the Ministry of Educations CKS hall redesignation proposal. 

Lei said the ministry should have waited until the legislature agreed to abolish the original law governing the CKS hall before issuing an executive order to change its name and structure. 

However, Vice Education Minister Chou Tsan-der claimed that the ministry was "legally authorized" to change the administrative status of the hall and draw up a new organizational code for the museum at the hall. 

"The CKS Memorial Hall ceased to exist the day the Executive Yuan approved our proposal in mid-April, " Chou said, adding that if the legislature eventually decides to keep the old museum inside the hall and its name, "well respect the legislatures decision, but until then, we cant sit idly by and do nothing," he added. 

However, Chou was elusive about the design of the new plaque and how it would be displayed, only saying that the sign would be placed somewhere "visible" and would not violate the existing Cultural Heritage Preservation Law.