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Groups call for passage of 228, White Terror laws

A coalition of private groups yesterday urged the legislature to enact a special law and earmark public money to probe the 228 Incident and other unresolved atrocities from the Martial Law era.

Chen Tsi-yang (陳慈陽), convenor of the coalition and president of the Taiwan Law Society, said that the short-term goal is to pressure the legislature to enact four pieces of legislation concerning transitional justice.

First, the groups hope to enact a "truth and reconciliation bill" that would establish a special court and special investigation bureau to investigate the 228 Incident and other unresolved political cases from the Martial Law era.

They also hope to push forward an "anti-discrimination bill," a "multi-language bill" and a "multi-culture advancement bill."

The alliance plans to present their versions of the four bills in June.

Aside from legislation, Chen said that they hope to pressure the government to launch an investigation into cases concerning suppression of human rights during the authoritarian rule and make public the report.

The alliance hopes to see the public reach a consensus on transitional justice by holding regular forums.

Issues include educational reform, consolidation of democracy, designating national languages and re-opening the investigation into the murder of former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung's (林義雄) family and Chen Wen-cheng (陳文成).

Huang Yu-lin (黃玉霖), chairman of the Taiwan Peace Foundation, said that it is important to uncover the truth of the 228 Incident and other political cases because when there is truth, there is reconciliation and harmony.
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