Real-Time Broadcasting of a Truth-Telling Program at a Taiwan Broadcasting Station

Feb. 21, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net)

On February 20, Professor Ming Chu-Cheng from National Taiwan University and I were invited to join the "The Voice of Xin Party" [The Xin Party is a new political party that strongly supports the reuniting of Mainland China and Taiwan] broadcasting program to talk about the facts of Falun Gong. The program lasted two hours. The first hour was in the form of questions and answers from the host, and the second hour was open for call-in questions from the audience. The host was a retired military person, and when we first met him he asked that we speak about the truth. The host expressed that he knew Falun Gong practitioners were not like the way described by the Mainland Chinese government. He further explained that although this was a political party's program, the reason he was hosting this Falun Gong program was not because how the Xin Party treated Falun Gong. He was hosting it because he felt that the Taiwan people had the right to know the truth, and that everybody should learn the truth before they make a judgment, which would be fair.

After the program had proceeded for about 10 minutes, we started to talk about the situations in China, where Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted and suppressed. Right then, a note from outside the stage room was passed in to the host. The note mentioned that some supporters of the Xin Party called the station complaining to the program host and asking why he arranged the Falun Gong program. The host showed us the note, I immediately explained to the audience that we do not have any preferences or viewpoint on the politics of Taiwan reuniting or staying independent. We were not against any government including the mainland government. On Tiananmen Square, the banners that practitioners displayed did not say "Down with such and such government," instead the banners said, "Falun Dafa is Good." What we oppose is the persecution that is against Dafa practitioners' basic human rights. Professor Ming and I took turns talking. While one was talking, the other was sending forth righteous thoughts. We complemented each other, and were not distracted by any interference. We focused only on telling the truth with our wisdom and benevolence.

As we further explained the truth, a few notes were passed in from the Xin Party headquarters requesting that the host take a break or immediately end the program. The host was not moved. He repeatedly explained to the audience through the microphone, asking them to deal with the program with calmness and reason. He explained that he was following the journalistic principle of getting to the truth, and that he wanted to bring the facts about Falun Gong to the entire audience. We expressed our appreciation and respect for his thought of justice. He also made ingenious complements following our explanations. During the second hour of answering call-ins, although some of the audience was somewhat radical, no one used any foul language. Some members of the audience expressed views stating that everyone should listen to the Falun Gong practitioners' explanations without any prejudice, and some expressed that our presentation was very good. The host was left with a deep impression about our honesty and justice; he persisted in continuing the program until 1:00 p.m., the scheduled program end time. He was not intimidated by the station head and Xin Party headquarters. His appearance was serious, yet full of justice.

At 3:00 p.m., the host called me and told me that the deputy secretary of the Xin Party made an appointment to talk with him, and asked him not to arrange any more religious groups for their programs. He explained to the secretary that as a host, if he could not follow the journalistic principle of getting to the truth, he would resign.

At 5:00 pm, the host called me again and told me that he had met the secretary of the Xin Party. During the meeting, he explained to the secretary that he had arranged the program following the principle of getting to the truth, and explained his experiences of the righteousness and honesty of Dafa practitioners that he met. Before the meeting was finished, the secretary made apologies to him.

I expressed my appreciation to him that he had completed airing the program according to the schedule without yielding to any pressure, and let us explain the facts without being interrupted. We also congratulated him for his righteous understanding about Falun Gong. He answered that he did not have any pressure; he had to do or say what he should do or say. If the program does not fit his principle and cannot be done in this manner, he would use the time to practice Falun Gong! He said with pleasure that the reason that he could speak clearly to the secretary was because he had the support from righteous people like us.