President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday met proponents of instituting a White Terror memorial day in a show of support, saying that officials would be instructed to consider implementing their proposal.
She made the comment in a speech marking the event at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
A petition for creating a day to commemorate Taiwan’s White Terror era, which occurred from 1949 to 1987, garnered 520 signatures.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
The proposed memorial day would occur on May 19, the date martial law was declared by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
The president thanked former political prisoners Tsai Kuan-yu (蔡寬裕), Chen Lieh (陳列) and Lu Yu (呂昱) for leading the nation’s democracy movement and their attendance at the event.
She additionally commended Chen for penning the Book of Wreckage (殘骸書), a memoir detailing the Martial Law period that won the Annual Golden Grand Laurel Award in last year’s Taiwan Literature Awards.
The 228 Incident and the subsequent declaration of martial law had a profound effect on the development of democracy and their lessons should be remembered, Tsai Ing-wen said, adding that future generations must not forget they carry the legacy of those who fought for democracy.
Relevant government departments would be ordered to evaluate the proposed creation of a White Terror day of remembrance in collaboration with the holiday’s proponents, she said.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), National Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) and New Taiwan Peace Foundation chairwoman Michelle Wang (王美琇) were among the officials and advocates at the event.
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