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As Taiwan marks 38 years since the end of martial law, one man continues to bear witness to the country’s darkest chapter.
Fred Chin, a former political prisoner, spent 12 years behind bars during Taiwan’s “White Terror,” a period of authoritarian rule under the Kuomintang (KMT) government from 1949 to 1987. Tens of thousands were imprisoned or executed for alleged dissent. Chin, falsely accused and sentenced in 1971, now returns to the sites of his confinement—not to relive the trauma, but to educate the next generation.
“I tried to find some explanation why I was in this room,” Chin said, standing in a preserved cell at what is now the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park. “I hadn't done anything wrong.”
Chin was just 22 years old when he stood trial. “I stood here facing the presiding judge, and I lost 12 years of my time,” he said. “Why don’t you just punish me with death once and for all? I will not stay in jail for doing nothing wrong for long.”
Chin didn’t speak publicly about his experience until 1992, when Taiwan finally repealed its remaining emergency laws. “Even though the martial law was lifted in 1987, the risk was still there,” Chin said. “Starting from 1992, we feel that without any kind of oppressive extra laws, we could stand up to share our story.”
Initially reluctant to revisit the past, Chin found courage through another former prisoner. “He said that is the necessity for us to stand, to share our story to the younger generations,” Chin recalled. “I told myself I could be able to overcome the kind of fear.”
As Taiwan faces fresh political challenges, Chin urges young voters to reflect deeply. “If you forget the history… the tragedies in the past could possibly happen at any time in the future,” he warned. “You have to make a strong decision to keep the freedom and democracy.”
Regarding the recall vote looming on July 26, Chin is outspoken. “I support [voters] to step up strongly... Those legislators who are not doing good work... are trying to sell Taiwan,” he said.
Yet Chin says he is nonpartisan, rather that it’s the caliber of elected officials that is important. “It's not because it's green or white or blue or yellow,” he said. “You have to depend on that particular person, his character.”
“I never ask them to vote for this person or that person. They have their own wisdom. They have to make their own decisions.”
Today, Fred Chin’s story stands not only as a testimony to Taiwan’s past but also as a call to action for its future.
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