TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The recent row over the death of Army Corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) has prompted the government to launch a series of reforms to improve human rights conditions in the military.

As a major part of the ongoing reform, lawmakers in August passed a court-martial law amendment making civilian prosecutors responsible for cases involving military servicemen in times of peace.

The bill's passage meant an overhaul of the nation's military judicial system and a fresh start for Taiwan's armed forces, amid public outcry over Hung's death, which happened while he was wrongfully held in a military brig in July.

The amendment is seen by Hung's family as a small step forward in seeking truth and justice for their son.

Others eagerly followed the bill's passage.

One was a mother who lost her son in the service and who has been pushing for reforms to Taiwan's military for nearly two decades.

Her name is Chen Pi-e (陳碧娥), founder of the Association for the Promotion of Human Rights in the Military (軍中人權促進會). Better known as Mother Huang, she is the mother of Huang Kuo-chang (黃國章), a conscript who served in the Navy before his mysterious death in 1995.

From Housewife to Human Rights Protector

Speaking to The China Post recently, Chen said her son was a victim of bullying in the military while he was serving compulsory service on a naval vessel in June of 1995 in Kaohsiung.

Before his death, Huang, 19, had been complaining to her that he was bullied and threatened by his senior officers while serving on the naval vessel.

As a protective mother who worried about her son's safety, Chen managed to establish contact with Huang's superior in the naval vessel who had confirmed that Huang was bullied.

The superior had promised to take care of the matter.

However, shortly after the vessel went to sea on June 9, Chen received a telephone call from the Navy saying that Huang had disappeared from the ship.

The Navy claimed that Huang committed suicide by jumping off the vessel over his failure to handle the pressure and hardship of serving aboard the vessel, despite the fact that they had found no suicide note, Chen said.

Six days later, a Chinese fishing vessel discovered Huang's body along the coast of China's Fujian Province. Huang's body had already been buried when she arrived Fujian.

But photographs taken by Chinese authorities had revealed that Huang's body had signs of external wounds, and even more surprisingly, a large nail was found in his head, evidence which strongly suggested that Huang had been murdered, Chen said.

“For a long time, I have been asking the military to investigate Huang's death, but years passed and I never received an answer on whether he was killed or if he committed suicide,” she said.

The heart-broken mother asked for help from lawmakers and civilian groups to pressure the military until she realized these efforts were of little use in seeking truth and justice for her 19-year-old son.

Along the way she also realized that there were many other families of conscripts like her own who had lost their sons in the military but were denied the truth.英文中國郵報2013/09/09

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/dream//2013/09/09/388447/p1/Housewife-fights.htm