Hannah Arendt was famous for noting the "banality of evil" of unquestioning Nazi bureaucrats. She often quoted William Faulkner in her later years: "The past is never dead. It's not even past."
Perhaps history haunts every person who attempts to answer the question of what constitutes justice.
The recent problem of officials converting years of service to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) into civil service to increase their pensions once again reminds us of this situation.
Let us consider the problem through the following three cases. First, Uncle Chang (
He worked for the KMT's public service association in Ilan after he retired, and was highly enthusiastic about local affairs. He often donated books bought with his small salary to schools. As he grew old, his former military supervisor arranged for him to work as a cleaner at a recreational ranch of the Cabinet's Veterans Affairs Commission. He officially retired from civil service before the lifting of martial law in 1987. Today he lives on his monthly pension at a "veterans' house."
Auntie Wang (
Mr. Lee (
According to the Examination Yuan's calculation rule announced in 1971, the years these people spent working at the KMT's party organizations -- including public service associations, women's associations, chapters for educated youth and KMT archives -- could be counted as time spent in the civil service.
This administrative order was temporarily cancelled after martial law was abolished in 1987. But the Examination Yuan's interpretation the next year stated that the new rule was not retroactive.
Therefore, those who shifted from the party to the government before 1987 could still include their years of party service as civil service.
However, according to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, the Examination Yuan's interpretation 17 years ago violated the Civil Servant Retirement Law (
Therefore, civil servants cannot include their party service as state service either before or after 1987.
The DPP government's interpretation is not unreasonable. Still, as KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
The problem should not be simplified as the original sin of a single ethnic group. Any changes will certainly affect many more people than high-ranking officials. To be honest, in the face of the authoritarian rule of the past, what could the public do under the party-state system?
If the DPP government only pursues high-ranking KMT officials, how high must these officials' positions be and how deep their involvement before they have to give their pension back?
Some also mention "transitional justice," believing that the rectification of all past wrongs is legitimate under this banner. Indeed, it is correct to right wrongs. But can anyone tell me what Chang did wrong? And should his case be handled differently from that of Lee's? Why does the correction of past wrongs have to prevent him from enjoying the last part of his life?
If the DPP is unable to outline a reasonable rationale, transitional justice can easily be interpreted as a political ploy. The same problem appears in the recent reform of the 18 percent preferential interest rate for retired public servants, soldiers and teachers.
In fact, transitional justice also stresses the clarification and sublimation of people's collective memory. When most members of a society have been involved in committing a crime, what matters most is not convicting them of that crime. Rather, they should admit their mistake and apologize through the reconstruction of truth.
From this perspective, the KMT, which caused the problem, should first apologize to the public and admit that its old policy violated the Constitution. By merely saying that Taiwan may fall into chaos if the government continues to investigate the problem, the party shows that it has not reviewed its historical responsibility.
It also raises the suspicion that the KMT may still think that its authoritarian rule was right.
Besides, the rehabilitation of justice by redistributing wealth should benefit those who are the most disadvantaged in society. In other words, people like Uncle Chang should be protected.
Perhaps the best solution would therefore be for the KMT to take the initiative to return the money that the government spent, and pay for officials' pensions for party service from its own funds.
If the party really wants to connect itself with Taiwan, it should first connect itself with its historical responsibility. Only by clarifying the past and honestly taking responsibility can it answer the question of what constitutes justice.
Huang Cheng-yi is a doctoral candidate in jurisprudence at the University of Chicago and a lawyer in Taiwan.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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