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.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
RSS