🚀 go-pugleaf

An Inter Press Service Feature

By Pamposh Dhar

HONG KONG, Aug 11 (IPS) - Students shouting slogans and punching the
air with their fists are the staple image of protests almost anywhere
in the world. In Taiwan, however, security authorities start to
fidget whenever they see taxi drivers listening intently to their
radios.

Most of the island's tens of thousands of taxi drivers are avid
fans of Taiwan's underground radio stations, many of which are run by
opposition parties or individuals opposed to the ruling Kuomintang
(KMT) party.

Not only do the illegal stations criticise the KMT -- which has
only lately relaxed its iron grip on the island since it was pushed
off mainland China by the communists in 1949 -- they also encourage
listeners to call in their views, an 'unthinkable' in Taiwan's state-
dominated media.

In addition, Taipei says the stations encourage listeners to take
part in anti-government demonstrations, a charge that some of the
illegal operators have denied.

But then police descended on 14 of the stations two weeks ago and
dismantled transmitters and confiscated equipment. As soon as the
illegal operators managed to resume broadcast using stockpiled radio
hardware, calls to hit back at the government dominated the airwaves.

Scores of taxi drivers were among the demonstrators who vented
their fury on police and journalists last week with stones and
sticks. A few days later, an official of the government information
agency was stabbed as he left the office.

Bedlam had reigned on the morning of Jul. 30, the day authorities
cracked down on the stations. Roadblocks had to be set to prevent
taxi drivers from coming to the aid of their favourite stations.

Reports reaching here say it also took nearly 7,000 policemen to
battle operators and their supporters and dismantle 11 of the 14
transmitters.

The following day, hundreds of demonstrators attacked government
offices and burnt police cars in protest against the clampdown.
Eleven people were arrested and 18 injured, including a policeman and
at least one photographer beaten up by demonstrators.

Opposition leaders charged the crackdown on the illegal stations
was politically motivated since it came one day after members of
mainland China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait
(ARATS) arrived in Taipei for talks with Taiwan's Strait Exchange
Foundation (SEF).

Indeed, Taipei watchers here say the initial protests that greeted
the ARATS team on its arrival were not followed by a similar
demonstration at the talks venue. They say the opposition Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) may have been preoccupied with responding to
police raids on the radio stations.

DPP secretary general Su Chen-chang also said the authorities went
after the illegal broadcasters because the stations were informing
people about the corruption in government and other wrongdoings of
Taipei officials.

The government retorted that there was no link at all between its
actions against the illegal stations and the Sino-Taiwanese talks.
Wu Chung-li, deputy director of the Taiwanese Information Office,
said the raids were carried out simply to maintain broadcasting
standards and protect the rights of legal radio stations.

In 1993, the Taiwanese government ended 40 years of media monopoly
by allowing new radio stations. But many operators refrained from
registering their stations under the stringent licencing laws,
including strict capital and equipment requirements.

At least of the illegal stations have applied for registration
since, but their applications are still pending.

Tensions have eased somewhat following last week's violent
protests. But Taipei analysts here say there the island's taxi
drivers may be sidetracked from seeking fares again in the coming
months, when voters troop to the polls to elect Taiwan's governor and
two of Taiwan's biggest cities.

With most of Taiwan's electronic media still controlled by the
KMT, the popularity of the illegal radio stations usually peak during
election periods, when voters seek relief from the official rhetoric.

The island's newspapers, which have benefitted the most from the
government's relaxing of its hold on media, are increasingly becoming
more critical of the ruling party. But many Taiwanese seem to prefer
listening to the booming voices of the illegal radio stations.

Some broadcast analysts attribute this partly to the stations' use
of the Taiwanese dialect instead of Mandarin, the island's official
language that dominates the media there.

The analysts say the use of the local dialect appeals to the
growing nationalist sentiment among the Taiwanese, who want to have
their own identity apart from those in the mainland.
(END/IPS/PD/CB/94)