Appendix I
The Thirty-two
Demands
Presented by the
Settlement Committee to Governor-General Chen Yi in Taipei, March 7, 1947
I. Reforms
required to ensure equality for Formosans in local government
-
A provincial autonomy
law shall be enacted and shall become the supreme norm for political affairs
within this province, so that the ideal of National Reconstruction of Dr.
Sun Yat-sen may be here materialized.
-
The appointment of
Commissioners shall have the approval of the Peoples Political Council
after new elections have been held. The Peoples Political Council shall
be newly elected before June, 1947. In the meantime, such appointments
shall be submitted by the Governor-General to the Committee for Settling
the February Incident for discussion, approval or rejection.
-
More than two-thirds
of the Commissioners shall be appointed from those who have lived in this
Province for more than ten years. (It is most desirable that such persons
only shall be appointed to the Secretariat and to the Departments of Civil
Affairs, Finance, Industry and Mining, Agriculture and Forestry, Education,
and Police Affairs.)
-
Unarmed gatherings
and organizations shall enjoy complete freedom.
-
Complete freedom of
speech, of the press, and of the right to strike shall be realized. The
system requiring registration of newspapers to be published shall be abolished.
-
The Regulations in
force covering the formation of popular organizations shall be abolished.
-
The Regulations governing
the [Nationalist Party] scrutiny of the capacity of candidates for membership
in representative organs of public opinion shall be abolished.
-
Regulations governing
the election of members of various grades in representative organs of public
opinion shall be revised.
-
A Political Affairs
Bureau of the Settlement Committee must be established by March 15. Measures
for its organization will be that a candidate be elected by representatives
of each village, town and district, and then newly elected by the prefectural
or city Peoples Political Council. The numbers of candidates to be elected
in each city and prefecture are as follows:
| Districts (Hsien) |
|
Cities |
|
| Taipei |
3 |
Taipei |
2 |
| Hsinchu |
3 |
Hsinchu |
1 |
| Taichung |
4 |
Taichung |
1 |
| Tainan |
4 |
Tainan |
1 |
| Kaohsiung |
3 |
Kaohsiung |
1 |
| Hualien |
1 |
Keelung |
1 |
| Taitung |
1 |
Changhua |
1 |
| Peng-hu (The Pescadores) |
1 |
Chia-yi |
1 |
|
|
Pintung |
1 |
-
The Office of the
Governor-General shall be converted into a Provincial Government. Before
this reform is approved by the Central Government, the Office of the Governor-General
shall be reorganized by the Settlement Committee through popular elections
so that righteous and able officers can be appointed.
II. Reforms
required to ensure security of person and property
-
Popular election of
prefectural magistrates and city mayors shall be held before June of this
year and at the same time there shall be new elections of members to all
prefectural and municipal political councils.
-
The posts of the Commissioner
for the Department of Police Affairs, and of directors for all prefectural
or municipal Police Bureaus ought to be filled by Formosans. The special
armed police contingents and the armed police maintained by the Railway
Department and the Department of Industry and Mining shall be abolished
immediately.
-
No government organs
other than the civil police can arrest criminals.
-
Arrest or confinement
of a political nature shall be prohibited.
-
All chiefs of local
courts of justice and all chief prosecutors in all local courts of justice
shall be Formosans.
-
The majority of judges,
prosecutors and other court staff members shall be Formosans.
-
More than half the
Committee of Legal Affairs shall be Formosans, and the Chairman of the
Committee shall be mutually elected among its members.
III. Reforms
required to ensure a revision and liberalization of economic policy, and
a reform of economic administration
-
A uniform Progressive
Income Tax shall be levied. No other sundry taxes shall be levied except
the Luxury Tax and the Inheritance Tax.
-
Managers in charge
of all public enterprises shall be Formosans.
-
A Committee for Inspecting
Public Enterprises, elected by the people, shall be established. The disposal
of Japanese properties shall be entirely entrusted to the Provincial Government.
A Committee for management of industries taken over from the Japanese shall
be established. Formosans shall be appointed to more than half of these
Committee posts.
-
The Monopoly Bureau
shall be abolished. A system for rationing daily necessities shall be instituted.
-
The Trading Bureau
shall be abolished.
-
The Central Government
must be asked to authorize the Provincial Government to dispose of Japanese
properties.
IV. Reforms
affecting military administration of Formosa
-
The military police
shall arrest no one other than military personnel.
-
As many Formosans
as possible shall be appointed to Army, Navy, and Air Force posts on Formosa.
-
The Garrison Headquarters
must be abolished to avoid the misuse of military privilege.
V. Reforms
affecting social welfare problems
-
The political and
economic rights and social position of the aborigines must be guaranteed.
-
Workmen's protection
measures must be put into effect from June 1, 1947.
-
Detained war criminals
and those suspected of treason must be released
unconditionally.
VI. Subordinate
demands, subject to compromise
-
The abolition of the
Vocational Guidance Camp [an internment camp for persons the Government
decides to make over into "useful citizens"] and other unnecessary institutions
must be determined by the Political Affairs Bureau of the Settlement Committee,
after discussion.
-
The Central Government
must be asked to pay for the sugar exported to the mainland on order of
the Executive Yuan.
-
The Central Government
must be asked to pay for 150,000 tons of food exported to the mainland,
after estimating the price in accordance with the quotation at the time
of export. [This was designed to recover, if possible, some of the costs
of the Settlement Committee interim administrative work.]
Read more about Formosan
history in the book, Formosa
Betrayed, by George H. Kerr, Houghton Mifflin, 1965
Reprinted by Taiwan
Publishing Co. Ltd (1992)
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(C) 1992 Taiwan Publishing Co.
This version of the 32 demands is from TACL-NY:
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Last Revised: March 9, 1997