Amid a mass movement to recall opposition legislators, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) joined hands in the legislature to cancel the May 19 White Terror Memorial Day. Using their combined legislative majority, the two parties earlier this month voted to pass amendments to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施法), adding four “new” national holidays and removing the May 19 memorial day in the process.
Thus, the holiday — established by the Executive Yuan last year to mark the date in 1947 when former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) declared martial law — was abolished after just one year. This move is a clear reflection of the blue-and-white alliance’s political ideology.
The KMT and the TPP repeatedly claim to oppose martial law, yet they oppose a holiday commemorating martial law’s 38-year history. This reflects the “one China, one Taiwan” political parties’ reckless and dismissive attitude toward the history of martial rule in Taiwan.
Canceling the memorial day holiday cannot erase the 38-year history of martial law in Taiwan, but the KMT’s and the TPP’s hearts are not with Taiwan, and they harbor ill intentions toward the collective remembrance of Taiwan’s history and Taiwanese joining hands to work toward democratization. The KMT failed to fully undergo a democratic transformation, while the TPP’s clumsy start led to their alliance — now, their collusion has cast a dark shadow over the nation.
The memorial day was meant as a form of transitional justice and historical remembrance. It represents a kind of promise for all who live in Taiwan — regardless of when they arrived — to shape a shared community and progress toward a new nation.
The New Taiwan Peace Foundation promoted May 19 not as a day off, but as a day of remembrance, organizing seminars and publishing a book titled: Complete Control: A Comprehensive Examination of Chiang Kai-shek’s Dictatorial Rule and Its Impact (全面控制：總體檢蔣介石獨裁統治及其影響). The purpose of remembrance is to learn from history’s mistakes so that they are never repeated.
Adding new national holidays was a deliberate move by the KMT and the TPP to garner public support — but why cancel the memorial day? It is clear that the two parties’ aim is to subvert our country and undermine the Constitution with their chaotic governance. This is not how normal opposition parties should behave. The nature of a holiday is cultural and ritual. When the executive and legislative authorities of a normal and healthy nation establish holidays, they do so to incorporate traditional and cultural festivals, and to introduce political implications — all aimed at shaping collective national sentiment and public will. The cancelation of the memorial day is a cultural loss and a political regression.
Taiwan must move forward, not backward. Our nation must emerge from the fog of history, not return to the dominant and oppressive one-party rule of the past. Remembrance is the act of ensuring that mistakes are never repeated. Abolishing the May 19 White Terror Memorial Day cannot erase the dark history of martial law: It is a brand on our nation, an unfading mark of the KMT’s rule over Taiwan.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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