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Taiwanese soldiers' contribution to Indonesian independence recognized

Taiwanese soldiers fought along with Indonesian fighters to seek for independence from Dutch colonial government

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Li Po-ching (李柏青, left)

Li Po-ching (李柏青, left) (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Indonesia will commemorate its 72nd anniversary of freedom from Dutch rule and Taiwanese soldiers are being recognized for their contribution to the victory.

One of them, Li Po-ching (李柏青), was born in 1922 in Tainan and voluntarily joined the Japanese Army under the Japanese name as Eiji Miyahara. He was then posted to Indonesia during the Second World War over 70 years ago.

After the Japan surrendered, around 1,000 soldiers from the Japanese Army deserted and stayed behind to join Indonesians in their fight for independence from their Dutch colonial rulers. Among these soldiers included men from Taiwan.

After the war, Li and approximately 300 of his comrades decided to stay in Indonesia for different reasons.

In an earlier interview with Li, he was concerned that he might be imprisoned when he made a trip to Taiwan in 1974, when the island was under the rule of martial law, as he also fought in the Japanese army against China's "National Revolutionary Army" in Myanmar. Li left Taiwan in a hurry after a brief meeting with his parents.

While living in Indonesia, he has contributed to promoting friendship between Indonesia and Japan by establishing the Yayasan Warga Persahabatan foundation and received many visitors from Japan as well as Taiwan. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also came to visit him three times and paid his respects at Li’s foundation.

He is also a man who never forgot his roots, according to Poppy, a worker at the foundation. He said that even though Li usually communicated in Indonesian, he taught his children to be fluent in Chinese.

His dedication and service during and after the war was recognized by Indonesian government. In 2005, Li was invited to attend a ceremony marking Indonesia’s 60th Independence Day and was awarded a hero's medal by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, making him the first foreigner to receive such an honor.

Another Taiwanese contributor, Chen Chih-hsiung (陳智雄), who was given honorary citizenship by the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, also served in the Japanese Army in Indonesia during WWII.

Chen stayed in Indonesia after the war and sided with Sukarno in the subsequent Indonesian National Revolution and was imprisoned by the Dutch for a year.

Chen went back to Taiwan but was imprisoned in 1962 by the Taiwan Garrison Command and executed in 1963 for his involvement in promoting Taiwan independence.