Transitional justice has become a popular catchphrase lately with politicians from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who are poised to take executive power on May 20, in addition to already winning a majority in the legislature in January, and racing to pitch legislation and ideas aimed at achieving transitional justice.
Aside from attention on a higher political level, such as a proposal to remove portraits of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) from public buildings and draft legislation on resolving the issue of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ill-gotten party assets, the incoming DPP administration should be reminded that transitional justice is also lacking on school campuses.
A recent incident at National Chengchi University exposed just how little transitional justice has been achieved in the nation from the bottom up.
The absurdity of military personnel on senior-high school and university campuses was highlighted in an incident in which fliers put up by students listing the names of people killed in the 228 Incident were torn from campus bulletin boards by the university’s chief military instructor on the grounds that the students were “stirring up trouble.”
While those unfamiliar with Taiwan’s educational system might be flabbergasted by the idea of military personnel on school campuses, the practice is not foreign to students in Taiwan. The so-called military instructors have been posted at senior-high school and university campuses since 1951. During the Martial Law era, military instructors were charged with preventing student demonstrations or riots on campuses.
While military instructors, along with the nation’s democratization, have over the past decade transformed their missions to providing counseling services and helping maintain school discipline, their continued on-campus presence nonetheless remains a symbol of authoritarianism.
In one incident in October 2004, a military instructor named Sung Wen (宋文), while under investigation for bribery, was found to have a bank account, which was established before the DPP became the ruling party in 2000, associated with the National Security Council to fund the tracking of political activities on school campuses and the political beliefs of educators.
There have been various reports of conflicts between military instructors and students, and the latest incident between the two groups at National Chengchi University merely served to highlight the instructors’ awkward presence on school campuses.
Educational institutions have their own academic staff, counselors and security guards. There is no need for military personnel to have a presence on campus, let alone meddle with students’ on-campus activities. After all, how can the nation’s educators be expected to teach younger generations about the true values of democracy and transitional justice when remnants of the authoritarian era stroll about on almost every school and college campus?
The existence of military instructors on school campuses is an abnormal product of the nation’s authoritarian past, and it is time for them to be removed.
Taiwan’s democracy is often touted as a success story, and it is indeed a major asset to the nation that all Taiwanese should be proud of. However, until the ridiculous, ubiquitous presence of military instructors on school and university campuses is put to an end, the nation is but a fragile democracy where the stain of authoritarian practices remains.
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