2-28, The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Sins of Their Fathers

Friday February 27, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

I am not one who believes that the sins of the fathers should be laid upon their children and certainly not to the third and fourth generation. However, I do believe that if those children constantly try to ignore and whitewash the sins of their fathers and insist on keeping the profits and privileges resulting from the sins of their fathers, then that is a different matter.

In Taiwan as we commemorate 228 some sixty-two years later, we also remember the subsequent forty years of white terror & martial law and the deaths and imprisonments of that period. Justice, transparency and accountability remain unanswered.

There are some good men and women in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) but their lives are built upon and remain tarnished by the fact that they have profited from the sins of their fathers. Many of them from Taiwan's President on down have not only profited from those sins but also participated in protecting them and this is what 228 protests declare.

Examples abound for anyone who wishes to go through history. How many people like James Soong as head of the Government Information Office (GIO) actively sought to protect the sins of his and the KMT fathers by blaming the human rights violations and abuses of the Kaohsiung Incident on the people seeking their rights.

Look at all the deaths and imprisonments not only of Taiwanese but also of the few brave KMT members who questioned the one-party state of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo. History abounds for those who want to look.

Look at the numerous KMT families who profited from the fact that their fathers had permanent iron rice bowl seats in the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly from 1947 to 1991.

Look even at the recent case of Diane Lee; she not only profited from the sins of her father but sought to perpetuate them in her illegal possession of a profitable seat in the Legislative Yuan. Her family's gains remain protected by the KMT.

Look to the fact that after fifty years of a one-party state, the KMT still has over US$ 575 million in declared party assets while all the other political parties in Taiwan have less than US$ 1 million. These are the profits from the sins of the fathers and there are many other profits that have been secretly transferred into the family holdings of the upper KMT members.

Justice, transparency, and accountability remain unanswered in Taiwan. The sins of the KMT fathers still profit the sons and daughters and the empty words and promises of Ma Ying-jeou are little satisfaction.