The Executive Yuan yesterday announced the names of the leaders and some of the members of the government’s transitional justice promotional committee, saying the list would be sent to the Legislative Yuan for approval once it is complete.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday confirmed that the committee is to be headed by 74-year-old former Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄), Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) told a press conference in Taipei.
“Huang joined dangwai [黨外, “outside the party”] activities in the early days and is a prominent democracy advocate in Taiwan,” Hsu said. “He is widely recognized in political circles as an impartial individual who shows a strong sense of mission toward Taiwan.”
Photo: CNA
Huang is one of the few people who, despite adhering to pro-Taiwanese independence views, could be embraced by both the pan-green and pan-blue camps, which makes him an ideal candidate for the chairmanship, Hsu said.
The committee’s vice chairman is to be Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Tien-chin (張天欽), a legal expert who served on the board of the now-disbanded Improper Martial Law Period Insurgency and Espionage Convictions Compensation Foundation.
Established in 1999 by the Executive Yuan, the foundation was tasked with compensating victims of persecution during the Martial Law period. It handled more than 10,000 cases and awarded about NT$19.6 billion (US$673 million) in compensation before it was dissolved in 2014.
Hsu said Chang’s legal knowledge, coupled with his experience working in the government, supplements Huang’s qualities.
Hsu also named four part-time committee members, including Presbyterian Church in Taiwan assistant director-general pastor Eleng Tjaljimaraw (高天惠), a Paiwan who also sits on the Presidential Office’s Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee.
Judicial Reform Foundation member Greg Yo (尤伯祥), Academia Sinica Institute of Taiwan History director Hsu Hsueh-chi (許雪姬) and National Taiwan University history professor Hua Yih-fen (花亦芬) were also nominated.
Yo is equipped with a deep sense of justice and has often represented victims of wrongful convictions, Hsu Kuo-yung said, adding that Hsu Hsueh-chi has been deemed a “walking Wikipedia” for Taiwanese history, particularly concerning the 228 Incident and the White Terror era.
Although Hua is also a part-time member of the Cabinet’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, sitting on both committees would not lead to conflict, Hsu said.
The three full-time members for the transitional justice committee have also been determined, but their names would be announced once they complete administrative procedures at their current posts, Hsu Kuo-yung said.
Under the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), the committee should consist of a chairperson, a vice chairperson, three full-time members and four part-time members.
Their tenure is not to expire until after the committee completes its initial task of compiling a detailed investigative report, a plan of action and draft legislation, which it is to do within two years before being dissolved.
228 Incident expert Chen Tsui-lien (陳翠蓮) is rumored to have been among the nominated committee members, but Chinese-language Up Media on Thursday cited an anonymous source as saying that she declined the offer because she believed that Huang did not know enough about transitional justice to head the committee.
Hsu yesterday declined to comment on the report.
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