AN OPEN LETTER ABOUT THE DEATH OF MUSIC AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH

To:  The Taiwanese Government/Congress

We, the supporters of Jeff Huang and the rest of the MACHI crew, would like to express our repulsion and disgust towards the apparent unjust and biased turn of events regarding the case of the aforementioned against some Taiwanese legislators that resulted from a song written by Huang on their 3rd album. From our understanding, the song BAO YING caused quite a stir because it tackled a very sensitive topic nobody wanted to dip into. The song accused Taiwanese legislators of coddling pirates of the Taiwanese music industry. When half of the world is fighting to make plagiarism stop, here are lawmakers safeguarding these thieves’ well beings. And what happens to artists who rage against these obvious atrocities against them? Death? Imprisonment? A remorse backlash from power-grabbing opportunists? What happened to free speech and free will in a place where most of its politicians are asking for sovereignty from their Motherland China? The stench of irony is too strong that we can almost taste it.

Why castigate an artist for expressing his truths, his opinions, and his beliefs? The move was bold and brazen and for the most part infuriating and we don’t blame the accused to be enraged. They have every right to protect their interests and reputations. But this is not about them or their reputations; it’s about free music, the basic right of every individual to express him or herself without the fear of reproach or retribution. Intellectual property rights is the name of the game and it’s the one thing these artists bank on every time they place melodies together and make them into songs for their next album. Or when they put words to form their next novels, the only thing they could claim as theirs is the copyright given to them for their works. What happens if the people whom these artists trust to look after them, are the same ones who steal from them? What say you when legislators allow these acts of robbery to happen by turning them into laws, which makes it legal and binding?

Bottom line: Piracy and plagiarism is a form of stealing. Stealing is a crime. Plain and simple. Please do not try to complicate things and screw up the facts just to save your asses. We are not stupid and we are not anybody’s fool. Shit, however you cover it up, whether if it’s with gold or diamonds or all the money in the world, is still shit. When you offer stolen goods to people, even if they are legally paid for, are still considered stolen goods. It’s a shame that the very people who were elected to protect and preserve the best interests of the nation are the same ones bastardizing them. When this is all of this is over, we hope that those who deserve to be in jail pay for the crime they choose to embrace as their truths. We want real justice and we stand by what we believe is the truth. We support Jeff Huang and the cause he is fighting for. We will not let him go down without a fight. Free Jeff Huang and his music! MABUHAY SI JEFF AT ANG MACHI (Long live Jeff and Machi!)!

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The AN OPEN LETTER ABOUT THE DEATH OF MUSIC AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH Petition to The Taiwanese Government/Congress was created by and written by Angela De Guzman (kewlbitch23@yahoo.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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