Renowned historian Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) has been appointed by the incoming government as the next director of Academia Historica. Wu previously served as deputy minister of the now-defunct council of cultural affairs — now the Ministry of Culture — and director of the National Museum of Taiwan History.
Wu said that government documents relating to transitional justice and public properties should be processed as quickly as possible and made open to the public.
Wu said that the job of Academia Historica is relatively simple, with the law stipulating that its main responsibilities are editing presidential files, and collecting and storing presidential objects.
However, viewing Academia Historica’s responsibilities through the prism of the 20th century would not meet the needs of the present, he said.
Late Academia Historica director Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲) — who headed the institute from 2000 to 2008 — accentuated research on Taiwan-centric issues, with publications of research papers and books on political persecution, democracy pioneer Lei Chen (雷震), the White Terror era, the 228 Incident, Taiwan’s democratization process and Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Chang also headed a research group at the 228 Incident Memorial Foundation and in 2006 published a research report on who was responsible for the 228 Incident.
On the other hand, while serving as the Council of Cultural Affairs deputy minister, Wu pushed for editing and publishing administrative documents related to Taiwan in the courts of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Wu said that he would continue to systemically collect, compile and publish historical documents.
Citing as an example the publication of the Fort Zeelandia diaries, written by Dutch colonialists in the 17th century, by late Academia Sinica research fellow Tsao Yung-ho (曹永和), Wu said that it was because the Dutch preserved and maintained historical documents with such care that contemporary researchers could make use of them.
He said that since the ROC has been in Taiwan for more than 70 years — much longer than the 30 years it was in China — the ROC post-1949 is part of Taiwan’s history.
However, due to restrictions by the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法), the Archives Act (檔案法) and the National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), researchers are facing many problems when using such historical documents, he said.
For example, unresolved issues remain, such as whether those who are involved in political persecution can apply to see documents related to their cases, or if an individual may do so if the case involves several other people.
Wu said that he hopes that a bill concerning the role of documents in political cases is proposed as soon as possible, so that Academia Historica, the National Archives and other institutions may try to ascertain historical facts in accordance with the law.
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