Taipei Times
Date: Apr 21, 2017
By: Lin Liang-sheng and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Sunflower movement of 2014 was an “illegal and non-peaceful” protest that does
Speaking at a corporate awards ceremony in Taipei yesterday, former president Ma Ying-jeou says the 2014 student-led Sunflower movement is not an example of civil disobedience. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
not qualify as civil disobedience, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday.
Speaking at a corporate awards ceremony organized by the Chinese-language Cheers magazine, Ma said that having been involved in the Baodiao movement (保釣) during his college days, he believed that student movements should be peaceful and should not break the law.
Baodiao refers to a movement to defend the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).
Illegal or non-peaceful gatherings are not a form of civil disobedience and involve “moral hazards” that lead to people resisting anything they dislike, Ma said.
Quoting a 19th-century US writer who advocated civil disobedience, Ma said people must accept the consequences of their disobedience. [FULL STORY]
