Kaohsiung Incident exhibit raises ire

Human rights activists said yesterday that an exhibition of declassified documents from the infamous Kaohsiung Incident (美麗島事件) has violated human rights, invaded victims' privacy and should not be allowed to happen again.

The exhibit, sponsored by the National Archives (檔案管理局), displayed the declassified dossiers as well as newspaper clippings of the historical protest and subsequent crackdown that also became known as the Formosa Incident.

The display was held from Feb. 28 to March 11 at Taipei's Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. It is to continue in Kaohsiung on April 4th.

"To hold an exhibition like this is a right thing and I affirm that," said John Wei (魏千峰), president of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (台灣人權促進會).

"However, they should not display those sensitive documents which concern the victims' privacy, such as those letters to their family members as well as their so-called confessions, which were obviously made under threat in jail. This is not fair to them," Wei said.

The Kaohsiung Incident started as a democracy rally on Dec. 10, 1979, which mainly involved members and supporters of the outlawed Tang Wai (黨外) political party.

One of those demonstrators was the current Vice President, Annette Lu (呂秀蓮). For her involvement, Lu was arrested and imprisoned on Green Island for 1,933 days. She was finally released on March 28, 1985.

Lu went to see the exhibition at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall but became upset when she saw her "confession" being displayed.

"I made that `confession' immediately after I was arrested. I was forced to `confess' my crimes then," Lu said.

"However, I am afraid that people will misunderstand when they see this display without any explanation," she said.

After visiting the exhibition himself, Wei suggested that the National Archives should be more careful when selecting materials to display at an exhibition such as this one.

"Anything that concerns their privacy should be avoided and that should be common sense," he said.

Wei said that he was stunned when he saw the correspondence of another victim -- former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德). Shih's personal letters to his wife are included in the exhibition.

"Obviously, these letters were confiscated after Shih sent them out from the prison. Out of concern for human rights, they should not be displayed without Shih's consent," Wei said.

"I hope the same mistake will not be made again when the exhibition continues in Kaohsiung on Apr. 4," Wei said.