True repentance and acknowledgement of mistakes is the key to reconciliation and forgiveness, but it is a long journey, Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace laureate and former Anglican archbishop of South Africa, said yesterday.
In a symposium on "transitional justice and fusion of national ethnicities" hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Tutu shared South Africa's experiences with reconciliation and healing after the end of apartheid.
Tutu, who arrived in Taipei last Tuesday, said that he had witnessed the efforts of Taiwanese to emerge from the shadow of the nation's past. He praised the tolerance of the nation's political victims in their struggle for justice.
PHOTO: WALLY SANTANA, AP
"We bring a humble mind to Taiwan and share our experiences to you. Some of the experiences might be useful to Taiwan but it is up to you to decide what suits Taiwan," Tutu said.
"An eye for an eye will make all the people blind," he said, adding that reconciliation is a long journey.
"We must learn how to forgive," he said.
Tutu also talked about his meeting with former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (
Tutu said it was tragic that the Lin murders remained unsolved.
Tutu emphasized the importance of taking positive steps toward transitional justice, instead of feeling lost in sorrow and anger.
In South Africa, some people insisted on arresting perpetrators and bringing them to trial, following the pattern of the Nuremberg trials after World War II. Tutu said, however, that this method was unproven in helping a nation heal.
"It is a too heavy burden to the judiciary system and the police knows how to eliminate evidence. Besides, the legal process is so long that [it] turns the media chilly to the victims. A court is a very emotionless place," Tutu said.
After the end of apartheid in 1994, the government announced an amnesty for those who committed certain crimes under the apartheid era, provided that the perpetrators admitted their crimes.
Although the deal was criticized as being too easy on violators of human rights, confessing their crimes proved very difficult, Tutu said.
"Making a confession in public is actually a big punishment. It is not a traditional way of punishment," Tutu said.
He also encouraged victims and their families to tell their stories because they could be very good lessons for society to learn about the price they paid in their struggle for freedom.
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