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National Archives
must open files: association
SORELY NEEDED: The public has to know the truth
about political cases in the White Terror era, so there can be justice for the
victims, activists say
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
The Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation (TATR) yesterday urged the
National Archives to declassify confidential files relating to political cases
during the White Terror period from 1949 to 1987, so that the public might learn
what really happened during that time.
Although martial law was lifted in 1987 and there have been countless research
articles, essays and books published about political cases during the Martial
Law era, many historians and families of political prisoners have yet to find
out what really happened.
This is because many law enforcement agencies, as well as the National Archives,
have not made public all the classified files about political cases during that
period of Taiwan’s history, the TATR said at a news conference in Taipei
yesterday.
“The authoritarian period is one of the most important phases in Taiwan’s
history, especially because it was the beginning period of the Republic of China
on Taiwan. There are many issues for us to understand, to think about and to be
alerted about — unfortunately, our understanding of the era is still fragmented,
or even biased,” said Academia Sinica research fellow Wu Nai-teh (吳乃德), who is
also a TATR board member.
“This is because the state has not been making classified files from the era
available to the public and thus our understanding of the era is fragmented,
superficial, mistaken and confrontational,” he added.
“What we’ve lost is not only the truth, but also justice for the victims,” he
said.
Kuo Chia-cheng (郭嘉承), son of a former army officer, Kuo Ting-liang (郭廷亮), who
was accused of sedition in 1955 — which led to the 33-year-long house arrest of
his superior, General Sun Li-jen (孫立人), for “failing to supervise subordinates”
until 1988 — agreed with Wu.
To this date, Kuo Chia-cheng — who believes that his father was falsely accused
and the aftermath happened only because of conflicts within the army — is still
unable to view all the original files about the case, because the National
Archives said that they needed to “protect the privacy” of other people involved
in the case.
“This matter is not only about finding the truth, it’s also about restoring the
honor of an army officer,” Kuo Chia-cheng said.
On the other hand, another TATR board member, Yen Chueh-an (顏厥安), who is also a
professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Law, said that although
the Archives Act (檔案法) stipulates that the government may turn down requests to
view classified files under certain conditions, “Article 22 of the law says that
files more than 30 years old should be made public.”
“The files might cause pain to some people, but without the truth, there would
be no cure for the injuries and no reconciliation,” Yen said.
“The process is a must for a democratic transition,” he added.
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