Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) presided over 3,195 military court cases during the White Terror era, the most on record, the Transitional Justice Commission said yesterday as the Taiwan Transitional Justice Database went online.
The database has records and photographs of victims of political persecution during the White Terror era, as well as the names and ranks of perpetrators, in the hope of enlightening the public about how such trials were conducted, the commission said.
It allows analysis using certain subsets of data, such as ethnicity, gender, place of residence and charge, it said.
Photo: CNA
Then-chief of general staff Chou Chih-jou (周至柔) presided over 2,506 cases, while then-navy commander Kuei Yung-ching (桂永清) was in charge of 1,241 cases, the database shows.
As head of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, Chiang had the ultimate say on the rulings and he repealed them in 266 cases, the commission said, adding that the other presiding officers ultimately bowed to Chiang’s will.
The database shows that both Taiwanese and Mainlanders — those who fled to Taiwan from China with the KMT in 1949 — were victims during the White Terror era, with Taiwanese accounting for 55 percent of cases and Mainlanders 44 percent.
The main priority of the commission was to identify victims, how the victims were oppressed and who the oppressors were, commission spokeswoman Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) said.
The database would allow the public to have a better understanding of the cases and help further academic study, as well as providing names of individuals and their actions during the trials, Yeh said.
Due to time and funding constraints, the database does not include information on the arrest and interrogation of victims, or how the ruling was carried out, commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠) said.
Such information — such as whether torture was used during interrogation and victims were harassed after their release — would form the basis of further investigation and research, Yang said.
The database would allow the public to learn about what happened during the trials, National Human Rights Museum director Chen Chun-hung (陳俊宏) said, adding that it could help provide the answer to the saying: “There are tens of thousands of political victims, yet there are no oppressors.”
“The establishment of the database is only the first step, and we hope that data on agents of the state and efforts to monitor the movements of the public will also be made public to catalogue historical facts,” Chen said.
The database only includes information on cases taken to court and does not include details of other victims, such as artist Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波) and lawyer Tang Te-chang (湯德章), who were executed without trial, the commission said.
The 228 Incident refers to an uprising that began on Feb. 27, 1947, and was violently suppressed by the KMT government starting the next day.
Estimates of the number of deaths vary between 10,000 and 30,000 or more.
It marked the beginning of the White Terror era.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS