TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Pioneers of Taiwan’s democratic development Lei Chen (雷震) and Fu Cheng (傅正) had to be praised for being far ahead of their time, Legislative Yuan Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) said Tuesday (Sept. 6).

Lei and Fu were two leaders of the democracy movement during the period of Kuomintang (KMT) martial law rule from the 1950s. They co-founded the China Democratic Party in 1960 at a time when new political parties were banned, leading to prison sentences for both activists. Lei died in 1979, while Fu was one of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) 18 founders in 1986.

Despite their years of imprisonment, they later returned to campaigning for democracy, advocating a new constitution and a change in the country’s official name, You said. If the KMT had accepted their views at the time, Taiwan would have become a democratic country early on, and a lot of sorrow could have been avoided, according to the legislative speaker.

You was speaking at the opening of a new site for Lei Chen’s memorial hall and at the launch of a book titled “Fu Cheng and Taiwan’s democratic movement” at National Chengchi University in Taipei, CNA reported.