Huang Hsin-chieh was a Taiwanese politician, Taipei city council member, National Assembly representative, Legislative Yuan legislator, publishers of Formosa Magazine. and Taiwan Political Theory magazine, senior Dangwai Leader, third chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party, and senior adviser to the president of the Republic of China. He was born on August 20, 1928 during the period when Taiwan was under Japanese governance also known to the Japanese as the Japan governance period of Taiwan and was fluent in Japanese and Taiwanese. He married Chang Yueh-ching in 1954 and had four children and adopted sons. They lived in a modest residence on in Datong District, Taipei City for over three decades. On November 30, 1999, he died of a heart attack in Taipei at the age of 71. He was buried in Bali District, and is survived by his four children, adopted sons and their grandchildren. For his contribution to Taiwan's democratic movement and sacrifices for his country, he is credited as being the "Father of Taiwan Democracy", "DPP's forever grandfather, DPP's forever great elder, and the immortal Hsin-chieh. President Lee Teng-hui on January 18, 2000 awarded Huang Hsin-chieh the posthumous citation for activities to promote political reform, nation building, and democracy advancement. Lee's successor Chen Shui-bian established a memorial lecture at the in Huang Hsin-chieh's memory to promote deeper democracy through lectures ranging from constitutional reform to China-Taiwan-US relations.
Political career
In 1951, he graduated from Taiwan Provincial College of Law and Business and a decade later in 1961, he was elected to the 5th Taipei City council and subsequently as a "permanent" legislator of the Legislative Yuan to fill positions vacated by deceased Chinese legislators in 1969.
Democracy (Dangwai) Movement/Persecution
In 1977, he and fellow Dangwai politician Kang Ning-hsiang established the dangwai establishment, a loosely knit political faction to promote democracy, political change and due process of law. The dangwai movement proved to be popular among the Taiwanese for circulation of the Formosa magazine became second island-wide by its third issue, that the government under then premier Chiang Ching-kuo feared eminent plots to violently overthrow the government. Huang Hsin-chieh and others, including Lu Hsiu-lien, Chen ChuYao Chia-wen, Chang Chun-hung, Shih Ming-teh, Chang Chun-hung, and Ling Hung-hsuan were arrested by military policemen and secret agents. They were to be tried in military courts, with heavy sentences anticipated. A system for countervailing social unrest dating back to the methods employed in KMT China. On March 6, 1980 Huang Hsin-chieh met with his defense attorney, Chen Shui-bian for the first time prior to trial and after three months of confinement, isolation and severe interrogation. Chen Shui-bian's oral argument and defense strategy was claims that the government failed to follow proper procedure in obtaining evidence thereby rendering evidence inadmissible in court. The judge over-ruled the objection and favored the state's charges brought against Huang Hsin-chieh. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The other members of the dangwai would all suffered political persecution and injustice to human rights and prejudice of judiciary due process. During his incarceration, he shared a prison cell with fellow dangwai colleague Yao Jia-wen.
