Congratulations, Formosa!

A VICTORY has been won on Formosa! It is a victory for human rights and for cherished freedoms that all enlightened men hold dear. It is a victory for the Chinese government now on Formosa, demonstrating an appreciation of the ideals that sustain free men today. It shows that the government is not only ready to make professions of freedom and equal rights for all, but it is also ready to back words by action.

On March 23, 1955, the governor of the province of Taiwan (Formosa) approved registration of the International Bible Students Association in Taiwan, and this registration went into effect when the district court in Taipei, after making its investigation, gave final approval on April 25.

Thus an 18-year fight for recognition and religious freedom by the faithful witnesses of Jehovah on Taiwan has at last borne fruit. It is a praiseworthy result, in that it shows that unrelenting determination, patience and integrity on the part of God’s servants bring their reward. It is praiseworthy on the part of the Formosan government, in that it shows the government has been willing to discard former prejudices and reverse the mistakes made by predecessors in government.

It is eighteen long years now since the first native Taiwanese accepted the Bible teachings from Jehovah’s witnesses. From the very beginning theirs has been a fight for the truth. The first Taiwanese minister of Jehovah’s witnesses was imprisoned by the Japanese just three weeks after being baptized, and his record shows that during the next ten years he spent the greater part of his time behind prison walls and in torture chambers.

But he kept fighting for the truth, and others joined him in the fight. It was harder than ordinary fighting, for they had no carnal weapons for protection against their Japanese persecutors. But being fortified by the Word of God and having the shield of faith and other divinely provided equipment, they fought on. They received no Watchtower magazines from the outside world to help. They had no association with others of their faith. All the association any of them had in those first ten years was one week by the one original Taiwanese minister with the Japanese minister who first brought him the Bible truth. This Japanese minister was later shot by the Japanese dictators because he dared to be an active Christian.

Then the Japanese rulers left and the Chinese government came. Jehovah’s witnesses of Taiwan, 300 strong, rejoiced. At last, will it be religious freedom? But their hopes were short-lived. Local Chinese police took up the false records left by the Japanese dictators and apparently believed them, and the oppression continued. Eight applications for recognition of the Christian organization of Jehovah’s witnesses dragged through government departments; eight times these were turned down.

However, changes were taking place on Taiwan. The Nationalist government, linked now so closely with the democracies of the West, was imbibing Western ideas. President Chiang himself admitted he had made mistakes on the mainland and that an honest endeavor would be made to correct these. Steps were taken to establish enlightened government in Taiwan. Cruelties and injustices, common to many Oriental countries, were gradually eliminated. And at last there came a reconsideration of the case of Jehovah’s witnesses, with finally, at the ninth attempt, the registration of their organization on Taiwan.

Jehovah’s faithful witnesses of Taiwan have been busy for eighteen years fighting for this recognition. And they are busy now. Doing what? Building the twenty-eight Kingdom Halls that are necessary in order to hold meetings legally under the wartime conditions in Taiwan. It is expected that by the time you read these words those Kingdom Halls will be completed and the 1,782 active ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses in Taiwan, together with many others of good will, will be meeting together for worship of Jehovah God. Further, they will continue to proclaim Christ’s kingdom of the new world and to proclaim by their law-abiding course of action that the government has not misplaced confidence in granting them full freedom of worship.

That an enlightened Formosa has shown kindness to Jehovah’s witnesses is to her credit and a source of great joy to Jehovah’s witnesses. Congratulations, Formosa!