Wikipedia

Chien Hsi-chieh

Chien Hsi-chieh (Chinese: 簡錫堦; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kán Sek-kai; born 15 March 1947) is a Taiwanese politician who served in the Legislative Yuan from 1996 to 2002 as a member of the Democratic Progressive Party. He later founded the Alliance of Fairness and Justice.

Chien Hsi-chieh
MLY
簡錫堦
Chien in July 2013
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 1996 – 31 January 2002
ConstituencyRepublic of China
Personal details
Born (1947-03-15) 15 March 1947 (age 77)
NationalityTaiwanese
Political partyAlliance of Fairness and Justice
Other political
affiliations		Democratic Progressive Party
Alma materNational Taiwan University
Occupationpolitician

Early career and activism

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Chien graduated from the Provincial Chunghua Commerce and Vocational High School [zh] and the Tamsui Technical and Commercial College.[1][2] He became active in the tangwai movement after the Kaohsiung Incident as a journalist and cartoonist. He and Chiou I-jen co-founded the Taiwan Labor Legal Support Group in 1984, which was later renamed the Taiwan Labor Front [zh], an organization that Chien served as president before his election to the legislature.[3]

Political career

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Chien was elected to two terms as a member of the Legislative Yuan and served from 1996 to 2002.[3] A legislative representative of the Democratic Progressive Party, Chien belonged to its New Tide faction.[3][4] In 1999, he worked to pass stronger legislation protecting conscientious objection to military service on religious grounds after the Judicial Yuan ruled that such reasoning was not sufficient to refuse conscription.[5] Chen spoke out against black gold politics later that year, citing data collected by the National Police Agency.[6] In 2000, Chien was attacked by Lo Fu-chu and Lin Ming-yi.[7] Lo later gained a reputation for using violence on the legislative floor.[8]

After stepping down from the legislature in 2002, Chien became leader of the Peacetime Foundation.[9] Through the foundation, Chien advocates peace on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, leading to a formally independent Taiwan,[10][11] negotiation with Chinese civic groups on Cross-Strait issues,[12] and organizes the Peace Film Festival.[13] Chien founded the Alliance of Fairness and Justice, also known as the Pan-Purple Coalition, on 10 August 2003 and announced that he would represent the coalition of social groups as its presidential candidate in the 2004 elections, but soon left the race.[3][14] Since leaving office, Chien has supported many social causes and initiatives. Among them are judicial reform and tax reform,[15][16] as well as workers' rights.[17] Chien has also called for the government to fund programs that would raise Taiwan's birth rate.[18][19] In 2005, he pushed the Chen Shui-bian administration to adopt less demeaning Chinese translations of the words "Jew" and "Islam".[20] The next year, Chien helped lead the Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go campaign alongside Shih Ming-teh.[21][22]

Chien later joined the Alliance for Fair Tax Reform to serve as its spokesman,[23][24] leaving the group to establish the Anti-Poverty Alliance.[25] Led by Chien, members of the Anti-Poverty Alliance held two hunger strikes in October 2011 to raise awareness of economic inequality in Taiwan.[26] In 2012, Chien, representing the Anti-Poverty Alliance, was named to the Executive Yuan Tax Reform Committee alongside Wang Jung-chang of the Alliance for Fair Tax Reform. Chien and Wang had previously worked together prior to this as members of the Pan-Purple Collation. Additionally, both were members of an earlier convocation of the Tax Reform Committee which met from June 2008 to December 2009.[27] Chien published a book, Power of the Weak in 2015. In it he advocated for the government to adopt nonviolent civil resistance as part of a strategy for national defense.[28] Chien's Anti-Poverty Alliance supported third force political candidates in the 2016 elections, the most successful of which belonged to the New Power Party.[29]

Political stances

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Chien's opinion pieces appear frequently in the Taipei Times. His editorials for the publication have discussed Taiwan's participation in the International Criminal Court and the 2011 food scandal.[30][31] Chien has also written repeatedly on the merits of nonviolent civil resistance, a topic on which he published a book in 2015.[32][33] The Taipei Times has also published Chien's writing on economic inequality and tax reform.[34][35]

References

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  1. ^ "Chien Hsi-chieh (3)". Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Chien Hsi-chieh (4)". Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 10 May 2017. Note: This webpage chronicling Chien's service in the 4th Legislative Yuan is erroneously titled with the name of fellow legislator Chen Gene-tzn, but properly lists Chien's constituency, education and career experiences.
  3. ^ a b c d Wu, Debby (11 August 2003). "Newsmakers: Bid ups stock of Chien Hsi-chieh". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  4. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (29 April 2014). "Ma ignores Lin at his own peril". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  5. ^ Lin, Irene (16 October 1999). "Jehovah's Witnesses may get break under new law". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  6. ^ Low, Stephanie (5 December 1999). "Legislator warns against gangsterism in politics". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  7. ^ Lin, Chieh-yu (4 January 2000). "Legislator assaulted by colleagues". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  8. ^ Low, Stephanie (9 October 2001). "Lawmakers say fellow legislator belongs in prison". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  9. ^ Lin, Miao-Jung (17 September 2002). "EU strategist says China's aggression belongs in the past". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  10. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (13 July 2007). "A peaceful road to an independent state exists". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  11. ^ Ko, Shu-ling (20 January 2003). "Yang Teh-chih caught in the middle". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  12. ^ Yiu, Cody (12 January 2005). "Taiwan joins peace group". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  13. ^ "Peace Film Festival opens with immigration theme". Taipei Times. 16 September 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  14. ^ Wu, Debby (11 August 2003). "Purple alliance calls for fairness". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  15. ^ Chang, Rich (14 December 2005). "Legal organizations call for prosecution reform". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  16. ^ Ko, Shu-ling (24 August 2005). "Pan-purple group promises tax revolt if demands ignored". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  17. ^ Chou, Jenny (12 September 2005). "Experts: Strawberry Generation is just a myth, statistics say". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  18. ^ Wu, Debby (23 August 2003). "Activists highlight graying nation". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  19. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (2 January 2004). "Population stability is a matter of good policy". Taipei Times.
  20. ^ Ko, Shu-ling; Chiu, Yu-tzu (23 August 2005). "Chinese words for Jews and Islam are demeaning: group". Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  21. ^ Shih, Hsiu-chuan (12 September 2006). "Anti-Chen protest fizzles, then regains signs of life". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  22. ^ Mo, Yan-chih (29 September 2006). "Protesters give A-bian dolls to DPP as anniversary gift". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  23. ^ Loa, Iok-sin (14 December 2008). "Thousands protest against 'unfair' tax cuts in Taipei". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  24. ^ Shan, Shelley (20 May 2010). "Activists target FPG over award". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  25. ^ "Lawyer urges revision of law on debt". Taipei Times. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  26. ^ Lee, I-chia (12 October 2011). "Hunger strikes to highlight poverty". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  27. ^ Su, Amy (16 March 2012). "Ministry unveils new task force lineup". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  28. ^ Lii, Wen (10 April 2015). "'Civil resistance' strategy urged". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  29. ^ Gerber, Abraham (8 January 2016). "Civic groups voice support for 'third force'". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  30. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (24 June 2003). "Taiwan should join ranks of ICC". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  31. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (21 June 2011). "Voters should think of food safety". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  32. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (28 August 2013). "Defending the use of nonviolence". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  33. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (22 November 2016). "Resistance through civil defense". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  34. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (28 December 2014). "Wealth gap fix requires tax reform". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  35. ^ Chien, Hsi-chieh (13 February 2012). "Ma must tell us why he will not tax the rich". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
 
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