An alliance tasked with monitoring the transitional justice promotion committee on Monday urged the committee to clarify facts and responsibilities.
The Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), passed by the Legislative Yuan in December last year, required the government to set up an independent committee for implementing transitional justice measures, including the declassification of state archives, the removal of authoritarian icons and the rehabilitation of victims of political persecution.
The Cabinet nominated committee members on March 31 and April 7, as required by the act, and the alliance — composed of 11 non-governmental human rights and legal reform groups — delivered a set of questions for the nominees to answer on April 16.
As the Legislative Yuan began reviewing the nominees’ eligibility on Wednesday last week, the alliance yesterday released the answers given by the nominees and held a news conference in Taipei to comment on their responses.
There is concern within the alliance that the nomination procedure was too rushed, Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation managing director Cheng Tsing-hua (鄭清華) said, adding that the eligibility of the nominees must be strictly reviewed.
However, Cheng praised the committee’s exclusion of people who have benefited from the former authoritarian government.
Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation chairwoman Huang Chang-ling (黃長玲) said it was regrettable that one nominee, pastor Eleng Tjaljimaraw (高天惠) of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, did not respond to the alliance’s questions.
The committee is not part of the government bureaucracy, but is tasked with leading the nation to the next stage of democratization, so it needs to clarify facts and responsibilities, Huang said.
Most of the nominees answered questions by saying that they would do their job in accordance with the law or make decisions through discussions, which the alliance thinks is rather vague, she added
After reviewing their answers, the alliance said it found that Taiwanese literature academic Yang Tsui (楊翠) and Judicial Reform Foundation member Greg Yo (尤伯祥) had demonstrated a sincere desire to communicate with non-governmental organizations.
That combined with their knowledge of transitional justice makes them suitable for the job, it said.
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