The Cabinet yesterday announced the three final nominees for the yet-to-be-formed transitional justice promotion committee, which is to investigate political repression during the Martial Law period with the aim of bringing about social reconciliation.
The Cabinet has proposed Yang Tsui (楊翠), an associate professor of Sinophone literature at National Dong Hwa University, Academia Sinica ethnologist Peng Jen-yu (彭仁郁) and former Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation chief executive Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈), Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.
The Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), passed in December last year, stipulates that the committee must consist of nine members, to be nominated by the premier and approved by the Legislative Yuan. It must not include more than three members from the same political party and at least three members from each gender should sit on the committee.
The commission has been entrusted with making political archives more readily accessible, including the retrieval of those kept by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT); removing remnants of authoritarian rule; redressing miscarriages of justice; producing a historical report on the period and promoting transitional justice.
On March 31, the Cabinet nominated former Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) as chairman of the committee and Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Tien-chin (張天欽) as its vice chairman.
It also nominated pastor Eleng Tjaljimaraw (高天惠) of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, Judicial Reform Foundation member Greg Yo (尤伯祥), Academia Sinica Institute of Taiwan History director Hsu Hsueh-chi (許雪姬) and National Taiwan University history professor Hua Yih-fen (花亦芬).
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had