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Editorial: Recognize plight of comfort women

The controversy over the Japanese comic book On Taiwan (台灣論) is snowballing. Former Taiwanese comfort women, women's groups and many lawmakers are outraged and appalled by allegations that the former so-called comfort women voluntarily served the Japanese military. Surely it is about time the government took swift and effective measures to bring justice to these former comfort women before the row becomes any worse. The administration must demonstrate its ability to take preemptive measures for crisis-prevention and show us that it has learned from its mistakes in the past few months.

Immediate government action is imperative for the following reasons. First and foremost, it was simply cruel to re-open the wounds of former comfort women in such an unjust way.

Secondly, the controversy may escalate into ethnic strife between Taiwanese and mainlanders. These two groups, especially the pre-retrocession generation, hold very different attitudes toward Japan.

Many mainlanders' resentment toward Japan is fully understandable, because the Japanese military was guilty of some heinous crimes in China during World War II.

However, no less understandable is the fact that many older Taiwanese feel close to Japan, as they were raised within a Japanese cultural setting. This was not by choice; they cannot change who they are.

Everyone in this country is struggling hard to integrate into a new group called "new Taiwanese" (新台灣人). Before we can do that, we must objectively face the fact that the "new Taiwanese" are a mixed-blood race and scientifically decode our cultural DNA. This consists of Chinese, Aboriginal, Hakka, Dutch, Spanish and Japanese cultures. Unless we accept this mixed origin and use that acceptance to start to heal ethnic divisions, we can never successfully become "new Taiwanese." The last presidential election severely damaged ethnic relations in Taiwan. The current controversy may exacerbate this.

Thirdly, the controversy may escalate into all-out anti-Japanese sentiment. The author of On Taiwan, Kobayashi Yoshinori (小林善紀), stands only for a very small minority of Japanese people. Mainstream Japanese society disapproves of its government's behavior during World War II. Japan's post-war generation, just like our own youngsters who tend to worship Japanese pop culture, don't know much about this painful part of their history. It would be unfair for them to become targets of anti-Japanese sentiment. Even more importantly, an avalanche of anti-Japanese feeling would certainly damage our relationship with Japan, when ties with Japan remain critical to Taiwan.

Finally, we have the highest regard and respect for most advocates of human rights and women's rights, as well as lawmakers who have consistently dedicated themselves to the cause of the former comfort women. However, it is disheartening to see some politicians who had never before helped this cause before, now leading demonstrations and protests over the comic. The longer our government waits to remedy the situation, the more the opportunities these shameless political opportunists have to campaign for the next election by exploiting the plight of the former comfort women.

Only one question remains: what can our government do to rectify the situation? The modest wish of these former comfort women is simply recognition for the tremendous wrongs and injuries they have suffered. The Presidential Office can immediately issue an official statement acknowledging the plight of the former comfort women, and then have the Institute of Taiwan History under Academia Sinica study and research the subject thoroughly. The Ministry of Education could also promise to include this painful part of Taiwan's history in school text books. Time is of the essence. No more delays.
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