Tuesday marked the 27th anniversary of the lifting of martial law, which ended the era of authoritarian rule in Taiwan and put the nation on the path of democratic reform. However, as a result of the nation’s failure to institute transitional justice over the course of its democratization, a poisonous residue of authoritarianism lingers on.
The absurdity of this was highlighted this week in a campaign by a group of high-school students from prestigious schools such as Taipei Chenggong High School, Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School, Taipei First Girls’ High School and National Tainan Girls’ Senior High School, who co-produced and released a video calling for the removal of Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) statues from all campuses nationwide.