Long Night’s Journey (走過長夜), an anthology of the accounts of 57 Taiwanese political prisoners and victims of state repression during the White Terror era, was released yesterday by the Preparatory Office of National Human Rights Museum.
The White Terror era describes the suppression of political dissidents and public discussion of the 228 Incident under martial law from May 19, 1949, to July 15, 1987.
At a press conference held to introduce the collection, four family members of White Terror era victims shared their stories.
Photo courtesy of the Preparatory Office of the National Human Rights Museum
Political prisoner Wu Yih-min’s (吳逸民) daughter, Wu Wen-hui (吳文慧), said her father was a National Taiwan University economics student when he was of convicted of anti-government activity by the then-National Security Bureau and imprisoned for 13 years.
She said her father did not speak much about his experiences as a political prisoner until last year, during a family trip to the former Alcatraz federal penitentiary in San Francisco, US, when Wu family members said they were shocked at the violation of human rights that took place there.
She said her father’s responded, “Alcatraz is very nice in comparison” to the prison he had been in Taiwan during the White Terror era.
According to Wu Wen-hui, her father’s greatest regret was never having received his economics diploma due to his incarceration.
“His youth was burned away in prison,” she said.
Wu Wen-hui said her father remained upset to the end of his life that the archives recording the events of White Terror era had not been opened to the public.
“There should be transparency and truth so that Taiwanese can know the past and learn from it,” she said.
Former political prisoner and veteran democracy activist Shi Ming-teh’s (施明德) daughter, Teresa Shih (施又熙), said that in the past few years historians working on the White Terror era have shifted their focus from the victims’ own experiences to that of their families.
Citing a statement from Yang Pi (楊碧), daughter of White Terror era victim Yang Kui (楊逵), Teresa Shih said that as the family member of a victim of state repression, “not only you are afraid of others, but others were also terrified of you.”
“The family members of White Terror victims were rejected and isolated by society,” Teresa Shih added.
Huang Hsin-hua (黃新華) said she knew little of her father, Huang Hsien-chung (黃賢忠), who was executed at the age of 33.
Her mother was also a political prisoner who gave birth to her behind bars.
“I knew nothing about my father until his last will and testament — which was withheld by the government for 60 years — was given to me,” she said, adding: “When I gave the letter to mother, she had no words and just sighed deeply.”
“How many 60 years does a person have in a lifetime?” she asked, tearing up.
Ouyang Hui-mei’s (歐陽煇美) father, Ouyan Wen (歐陽文), was a noted painter and a student of renowned painter and 228 Massacre victim Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波).
She recalled that her father had trouble supporting his family, after being released from prison, and only recently began making art again “to show to the world that Taiwanese have always, and will always strive to realize human rights and liberty.”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS