The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will forever be associated, for good or bad, with the concept of transitional justice. The government has certainly exhibited resolve in this area, from its forays into pension reform to addressing the problem of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ill-gotten assets. These reforms are tasks that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was never able to complete, and which former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was reluctant to touch.
The public has come to place high expectations on the government within this new climate, just as the KMT has pushed back on it. Tsai has demonstrated that she can be both courageous and astute — one of her campaign promises was realizing marriage equality. These proposals, naturally, were met with vehement protestations from religious groups.
Nevertheless, as the nation’s most powerful leader, she cannot hold back on realizing true transitional justice just because of the ideological and religious objections of the few. Transitional justice is not about showing politicians in their best light — it is about them fulfilling their duty.
When the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) was passed on Dec. 5, it set a milestone in Taiwanese history. Transitional justice is not simply about righting the wrongs brought upon Taiwanese during the Martial Law era, it is also about dealing with the cultural damage wrought as a result of personality cults. That the legislation was passed just in time for Human Rights Day on Dec. 10 is, certainly, symbolically important.
The core value of the act is its declaration of the sanctity of life of every person in the nation: It is the assurance of the same extensive basic human rights of everyone, irrespective of ethnicity, class or gender.
The passage of the legislation was met with different reactions from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the KMT: The former used it as a stick with which to beat the KMT, while the latter sprang to the defense of its own record in power.
That the Martial Law era is one stained with the blood of innocents is an undeniable historical fact. The KMT was in power for many years, during which — and especially in the period since the introduction of direct presidential elections — it had the chance to put right some of its past mistakes.
However, the only one to attempt this was former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who apologized for the 228 Incident and the White Terror.
Ma, during his two terms in office, did nothing in this regard, which was a missed opportunity for which he cannot lay the blame entirely at the feet of the DPP.
History has given the KMT a chance to reflect on its transgressions, but during the time it was in power it wasted this valuable opportunity — time marches in one direction; history will not revisit itself.
It is time for the DPP to take the reins of government and lead the nation forward. Any political party that cares about human rights will throw itself behind the task of transitional justice. The KMT squandered the chance to rectify its mistakes, because it has never really had respect for human rights.
Although it does seem that the act is overly focused on the problems bequeathed the nation by Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), a close reading of the wording of the act reveals that it is clearly aimed at all violence meted at human rights.
In a democratic society, the issue of human rights should be at the fore. This, more than the right to vote, is what democracy is about. If Taiwan is to reinstate the dignity of being human, then the priority for the nation’s democracy at this moment is the respect for the collective memory of Taiwanese.
Unfortunately, this has become crowded out by the clamor of politicians more concerned with partisan one-upmanship, in the pursuit of which they have all but ignored transitional justice for marginalized ethnic groups.
The human rights of Aborigines in particular are very underrepresented — in specific terms — in the legislation. In the same way, the marriage equality legislation that Tsai promised remains mired in the legislature.
Among all this partisan squabbling, the DPP is not prioritizing the establishment of a proper model of justice and is giving Taiwanese the distinct impression that marriage equality is never going to be anything other than a campaign slogan. The party needs to show Taiwanese that it has genuine resolve to seek justice, and not simply out of electoral considerations.
With its proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), the DPP is too obviously favoring businesses, an approach that is in no way consistent with the principle of justice.
At a time when it says it is championing transitional justice, the party must make the electorate believe that it is really seeking meaningful justice and not merely passing legislation promoting transitional justice with one hand while smiting the workers of the nation with the other.
Tsai wields political power. She needs to show Taiwanese what true justice looks like, not kick the can down the road for later generations to pick up the task. Give Taiwanese the justice they need now. History will only afford Tsai this one opportunity.
Chen Fang-ming is a professor at the Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature at National Chengchi University.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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