President Chen Shui-bian (
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has long been haunted by criticism over how it has dealt with property and real estate it seized during its decades of authoritarian rule. Many public and private assets were transfered from government control to the party, with inadequate or no compensation.
The pan-green parties have often used the issue to stir up sentiment amongst supporters against the KMT.
"I personally think that the issue should be dealt with via political negotiations and speedy enactment of a new law," the president said yesterday at a forum on democracy.
KMT leaders have openly admitted the need to deal with the issue, with party Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang said that given Ma's pledge to deal with the assets by June, it is too early to enact a new law to tackle the issue.
Chen offered the rhetorical olive branch while attending the morning session of a forum about the difficulties encountered by new democracies. The theme of the session was transitional justice and constitutional systems.
The event was organized by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Five ex-presidents attended the event: former South Korean president Kim Young-sam, former El Salvadorean president Francisco Guillermo Flores, former Polish president Lech Walesa, former Mongolian president Punsalmaa Ochirbat and former South African president Frederik Willem de Klerk.
At the forum, Chen spoke at length about Taiwan's experience in becoming a democracy and the problems it faced in securing justice for people wronged during the Martial Law era from 1949 until 1987.
The handling of problems during the transition from authoritarianism to democracy becomes more complicated and difficult if the support and opposition to authoritarian rule is based on ethnic, national or religious identity, he said.
Evoking the "228 Incident," Chen said the authoritarian KMT regime first denied the existence of the massacre, then made an effort to play down the incident and subvert the truth.
As the perpetrators of the atrocities that occurred during the incident have not been punished, Chen said the pain felt by victims will never be healed.
The president also talked about another issue he and his party have long championed: enacting a new constitution.
Such a move would require a two-thirds majority in the legislature. Chen's party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is far short of the necessary votes, and the oppositiuon parties intensely oppose the idea. It is therefore unlikely that a new constitution could be created in the near future.
Nevertheless, Chen said that the time was ripe to pursue a new constitution.
"I'd like to know how come other young democracies -- such as El Salvador, South Korea, South Africa, Poland and Mongolia -- can have their own constitution, but we can't?" Chen said. "It is our joint mission to deliver a new constitution. If we don't do it today, it'll be too late tomorrow."
Despite Chen's remarks, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday said the party would press on with its campaign to hold a referendum on the recovery of the KMT's assets.
The campaign proceeded to the second stage on Wednesday after the number of signatures submitted by the party to the Central Election Commission (CEC) passed the legal threshold.
According to the Referendum Law (公投法), the signatures of 0.5 percent of the nation's eligible voters, or 83,000 signatures, are needed for a referendum proposal to be established.
After passing the threshold, another 830,000 signatures have to be gathered within six months for a referendum to be held.
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Chen hails democracy at forum
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