Now that the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) has been passed and the task of setting the nine-member transitional justice promotion committee is under way in earnest, all eyes are on the committee to see what it does.
If transitional justice can be achieved and the truth of what transpired during the White Terror era can come to the fore, giving respite to some of the souls who were wronged by the regime of the time, the concept of human rights can be further instilled in people’s minds and the foundations of social harmony can be laid down.
This can only be good for the development of Taiwanese democracy. Given the stipulation that symbols of the past authoritarian regime are to be removed, the issue of what is to be done with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is sure to be one of the more contentious points.
On a recent trip to the memorial, I paid a visit to a display regarding what changes were being planned as part of this process.
The preparatory team is soliciting suggestions from the public about what form transitional justice is to take at the memorial, and there have been opinions offered from all perspectives, which is to be applauded. For example, some of the suggestions on display are that the building be torn down or repurposed, renamed or left as it is.
The process of repurposing the area has been ongoing for some years now.
First, the main gate and Liberty Square, since the Wild Lily Student Movement of 1990, have been baptized by various social movements and have become something of hallowed ground for Taiwanese democracy.
Second, with continued democratic development and a wider acceptance of the importance of human rights, visitors to the memorial nowadays are increasingly going there to stroll through the grounds and enjoy the gardens or to exercise, rather than to pay respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), which was the original intention behind the memorial’s construction.
Although many might disapprove of the original reason for building the memorial, it is, after all, part of an integrated park and was very costly to construct.
If the committee does list the memorial as a symbol of the authoritarian regime, it should perhaps try to strike a medium between maintaining the park as it is and achieving the goal of transitional justice.
For example, the actual hall could be repurposed as an annex of the National History Museum and be used to store and display some of the museum’s historical artifacts and works of art.
The two buildings are near to each other and they can be incorporated into one body and managed collectively.
The museum could redesign and alter the building according to its own remit. The Louvre Museum in Paris and the Palace of Versailles were once authoritarian symbols that, having been repurposed as museums, are now regarded as national treasures.
It is important that people get to offer suggestions on how to repurpose the memorial. Perhaps, when it has been divested of its authoritarian associations, it can be transformed into a place where historical treasures and art can be displayed and performed, and where people can enjoy the beautiful gardens.
This, coupled with Liberty Square being available for social movements, would mean that a reactionary homage to an authoritarian regime can be given a new life and be transformed into a national treasure.
Ho Hsin-chuan is a professor of philosophy at National Chengchi University.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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