Taiwan has witnessed two transfers of political power, and both times there has been an almost imperceptible appeal for “transitional justice.” However, there are many people in Taiwan who have little idea of what that term means, and have less interest in finding out.
It is not an appeal you usually hear when political parties hand over the reins of government in other nations: It is only heard in nations where a totalitarian regime has been replaced.
In its most extreme form, transitional justice resorts to revolution. In the French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917, members of the monarchy and aristocracy were either executed or exiled. The communist revolution in China saw landlords throughout the country called to account. Much blood was shed in these events but, to those whisked up into the revolutions, this was all a form of transitional justice.
After World War II, those that had conspired toward, instigated or participated in the invasion of other countries were prosecuted as war criminals. Those guilty of serious crimes were sentenced to death, while those convicted of lesser crimes were purged and banned from participating in politics.
When West Germany and East Germany were reunified, government officials, academics, writers and artists who had colluded with the communist regime in East Germany were purged. They were not punished, but they lost their social standing. This was how transitional justice was achieved.
After the Chinese Civil War, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) retreated to Taiwan, Taiwanese were subjected to one-party totalitarian rule and many horrors, including the 228 Incident. People who opposed the KMT’s policy of “retaking the mainland” and “unifying China,” or who pushed for democracy, freedom and human rights were arrested, imprisoned or otherwise done away with. They were made to “disappear.”
It is unconscionable that the KMT — after having its national policy exposed as horribly flawed — was able to do an about face as if nothing had happened and cozy up to the Chinese Communist Party, paving the way for the annexation of Taiwan. Have these former rulers, who formulated and long pursued a flawed policy; who misled the nation and the people living in it; and who slayed innocent civilians in the process, ever shown the tiniest bit of remorse? Have they uttered a single phrase by way of apology? Has the party done anything to atone for its past sins? No, no, and in all cases, no.
There is no shortage of candidates for serious punishment in this nation, although perhaps executions and exile orders can be dispensed for now.
The perpetrators of these past crimes have long lived the good life, staying well beyond the arm of the law. All the while, they have been trying to blind the public with slogans such as “forget past enmities, we are all in this together,” persuading Taiwanese to forget that forgiveness and reconciliation are the exclusive rights of the wronged, as they occupied the top of Taiwan’s socio-economic pile. This being the case, people have no idea how to even start looking for transitional justice.
Democracy elsewhere is made of pure and refined stuff. Taiwan’s is rough, spurious and contaminated. It is a shame for ordinary Taiwanese that transitional justice is always something on the horizon, something the public does not feel justified in reaching out for. Instead, most Taiwanese merely sigh and try to convince themselves that a more robust democracy is something they need to wait patiently for.
Peng Ming-min is a former presidential adviser.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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