LEGACY: Transitional justice centers on unveiling wrongdoings, not celebrating achievements, a minister told KMT lawmakers demanding due credit to the Chiangs
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 12, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The examination of past authoritarian rule as part of the transitional justice program
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung, right, and Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun answer questions about the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
should be carried out without commemorating the achievements of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), because the examination is aimed at revealing state violence during their authoritarian rule, Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday.
Cheng was debating the legacy of the two former presidents with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, who asked the Ministry of Culture (MOC) to give due credit to the former presidents while examining their human rights violations.
KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) asked Cheng and Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) to name three achievements of the two presidents, but both refused to do so, saying that enough of their achievements have been taught through state education.
“Examining the truth is not about comparing their achievements with wrongdoings, but to discover the truth about persecution,” Cheng said. [FULL STORY]
