The government remains steadfast in its commitment to facilitating transitional justice and preserving the stories of those persecuted during the White Terror era, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
“On the path of transitional justice, we will remain steadfast,” Tsai told an event marking Human Rights Day, observed annually on Dec. 10, at the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park in New Taipei City.
Such efforts, especially to raise public awareness of what happened in Taiwan between 1949 and 1992, would help create a freer and more equitable society in which the values of democracy and human rights are protected, she said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Tsai administration first pushed for transitional justice in December 2017, when the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) was promulgated.
Efforts to carry out transitional justice have included investigating cases of political persecution and determining whether the victims in those cases should be exonerated or compensated, or both.
The government has also preserved sites where state wrongdoings occurred, such as the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park, which was a detention center, Tsai said, adding that it has promoted the teaching of White Terror history through school curriculums and cultural events.
These efforts aim to give the public an understanding of the harm inflicted by the authoritarian regime on society, while consolidating democracy and the rule of law in Taiwan, she said.
The government had since January confirmed 1,829 compensation claims by White Terror victims, awarding more than NT$3 billion (US$95.62 million) in total, she said.
Many of those cases were processed by the Transitional Justice Commission, which was not authorized to award compensation, and then handed over to a foundation created in January to restore the rights of victims of authoritarian rule.
Retired businessman and former political prisoner Yang Kuo-yu (楊國宇) urged the government to step up efforts to educate young people about the country’s authoritarian past and preserve historical sites of injustice.
The 91-year-old also called for the continued pursuit of the truth about what happened during the White Terror period.
Yang was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1950 at the age of 18, after being falsely accused of “taking part in rebellious groups,” government information showed.
Following his release in 1960, Yang started working in textiles, gradually working his way up in the industry before expanding to other businesses, such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
He was exonerated earlier this year.
Yang was among the former political prisoners recognized at yesterday’s event for donating to the National Human Rights Museum.
He donated to the memorial park a violin that he had throughout his incarceration on Green Island.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS