Burying the past
Chiang Kai-shek, who died in 1975, is again in the news. So is his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, who died in 1988. That is because the two men were never buried. Chiang senior, defeated by the communists in the Chinese civil war, fled to Taiwan in 1949. There, he vowed to one day lead a counter-attack against the mainland, overthrow the communists and re-establish the Kuomintang government in Nanjing.
When he died in 1975, his coffin was put in a temporary mausoleum, awaiting eventual burial in his hometown of Fenghua, in Zhejiang province, after the end of communist rule.
By the time his son died, no one had any illusion that the KMT would ever return triumphantly to the mainland. But still, to bury him when his father remained unburied did not seem right. So his body was kept in a temporary mausoleum in Taoyuan.
Now, the Chiang family, through the younger Chiang's widow, a Russian woman called Faina, has asked the government to bury both men in the Wu Chih Shan military cemetery in Taipei.
President Chen Shui-bian acceded to the request, and state funerals are now tentatively scheduled for next spring in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei.
KMT chairman Lien Chan supported the move. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party praised the Chiang family's decision. 'We will let history judge the deeds of the two Chiangs,' said Cheng Wen-tsan, director of the party's information and culture department. 'But we welcome the fact that the Chiang family now sees Taiwan as their eternal and only home. It is quite meaningful, as it shows their identity with Taiwan.'
However, plans for a state funeral are controversial, especially among members of the pro-independence camp. 'It would be excessive to bury them in a state funeral,' said senior presidential adviser Koo Kuan-min. 'The burial plan is strictly the business of the Chiang family.' But he voiced approval for the burials, saying it would be conducive to social harmony and ethnic integration
Only a few days ago, two DPP lawmakers - Lee Chen-nan and Trong Chai Tung-jung- opposed holding state funerals for the two men. Mr Lee called it a waste of taxpayer's money, while Mr Chai likened the Chiangs to Stalin and said there was no need to hold state funerals for 'ruthless leaders'.
News of the burial of these two leaders has revived discussion of their roles in Taiwan's history. The KMT, after all, was in power during the February 28 Incident in 1947, which led to the massacre of thousands of Taiwanese.
But while both Chiangs ruled in an authoritarian fashion, their defenders say that the two men laid a foundation for prosperity and even democracy to flourish in Taiwan, and saved the island from falling into the hands of the communists.
It is likely that the widow of Chiang Ching-kuo was able to seek the burial of her husband and her father-in-law only because her mother-in-law - Soong May-ling - died in New York last October, aged 106. That fiery woman would never have consented to the burials in Taiwan. When she died, her family said she wanted to be buried with her husband one day when mainland China and Taiwan are united. Until that day comes, her body is being kept in a temporary mausoleum in New York.
Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based journalist and commentator
