Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has unveiled a memorial to Taiwan’s “comfort women” next to the party’s Tainan branch.
At the event, he expressed regret that the Democratic Progressive Party government has not followed through on the passage of the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) by asking the Japanese government for compensation on behalf of these women.
Whether the government should demand such compensation from Japan merits discussion. However, if Ma and the KMT are not lying through their teeth, they must be well aware that “comfort women” is a system of military prostitutes and that the KMT used to have just such a system, called “831 special teahouses” (八三一特約茶室).
UNDERAGE
The system was established while former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) was in charge of the Ministry of National Defense’s Political Warfare Bureau.
The KMT says that “comfort women” were “cheated, forced and kidnapped” into service, but media reports from the time show that underaged women were often forced into prostitution at the “special teahouses.”
However, the KMT has never shown any intention to apologize or pay compensation for this system, and it refuses to mention its own role as a perpetrator of the “special teahouses.”
Absurdly, it constantly criticizes Japan for its “comfort women” system.
Numbers speak louder than words: The “special teahouses” system was in place from 1952 to 1992 — a span of 40 years. That is more than five times as long as the Japanese “comfort women” system, which means that it brought even greater harm to Taiwanese adult and young women.
SHAMELESS
For any civilized person, it is difficult to understand how Ma and the KMT can be so shameless as to erect a memorial to “comfort women” at their Tainan party branch. It is like the thief crying: “Thief!”
If the KMT really is concerned about the suffering of women under the system of military prostitution, it should help the government set up an “831 Special Teahouse Hall of Tears.”
It should also consider moving all statues depicting Chiang — the man who set up these “special teahouses” — and exhibit them in the “Hall of Tears” so that surviving victims and their family members will not be reminded of the tragedy and inhumane treatment that they or their older kin were subject to.
COMPENSATION
The KMT should be asked to stop pretending that it is deaf, mute and completely unaware of its own dirty business here in Taiwan while demanding an apology and compensation from the Japanese government on behalf of the “comfort women.”
The KMT should apologize and compensate victims so that all Taiwanese women who suffered under the system of military prostitution are given the justice they deserve.
Lastly, social campaigners who have expressed their concern for “comfort women” should direct even more of their attention to the even larger number of victims of the “teahouses.” Many of these women are still alive and we should take this opportunity to get them the justice they deserve.
Do not allow politicians to erase this dark chapter in Taiwanese women’s history.
Vincent Tsai is a deputy sales manager in the semiconductor industry.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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