Lin Family killing archives declassified, but key evidence destroyed: Lai

Kaohsiung, Feb. 28 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said Saturday that all archives concerning the unresolved 1980 Lin family massacre have been declassified for public review, though evidence regarding the perpetrators remains unavailable due to the former authoritarian regime's "systematic destruction" of records.

Earlier this month, the National Security Bureau (NSB) declassified more than 50,000 martial law-era political records after he instructed it to do so, Lai said at the national 228 Incident memorial ceremony in Kaohsiung marking the 79th anniversary of the 1947 incident.

The additional items were identified after the bureau spent 16 months manually sorting through more than 1 million archival records, said Lai, who took office in May 2024.

All NSB political archives declassified

Combined with archives declassified since Taiwan's first transition of power in 2000, the NSB has transferred a total of 140,000 unredacted political records to the National Archives Administration for public review, Lai said.

However, Lai noted that "archives about the Lin family case are incomplete, and much of the oral history has proven unreliable or fabricated," referring to the 1980 murder of three members of then-dissident Lin I-hsiung's (林義雄) family on Feb. 28, 1980.

The fragmentary records mean that these archives "require further analysis and research" in order to bring to light the truth behind the incident, the president said.

The 228 Incident in 1947, an uprising against then nationalist KMT rule that left tens of thousands dead and imprisoned, and the Lin family massacre -- in which Lin I-hsiung's mother and twin six-year-old daughters were killed, while his eldest daughter survived -- stand as two defining tragedies in Taiwan's transition to democracy.

Key evidence in Lin Family massacre destroyed

At the annual ceremony, the president devoted part of his speech to the issue of historical records that could help uncover the truth behind the unresolved Lin family massacre, in an apparent response to recent controversy surrounding an unreleased film, "The Century Bloodshed (世紀血案)," about the tragedy.

Investigation reports by the Transitional Justice Commission under the Executive Yuan and the Control Yuan found that key records on the Lin family massacre were "systematically destroyed," while the NSB and other intelligence units obstructed the judicial investigation at the time, the president said.

"That intelligence files could be so brazenly and systematically destroyed during the one-party state era raises the question -- who had the power to destroy those records? Who could have ordered intelligence units to obstruct the judicial investigation? Only the government in power had that kind of authority," Lai continued.

Film sparks interest in Taiwan's dark past

The buzz around "The Century Bloodshed" has prompted visits to Gikong Presbyterian Church -- the former Lin family home and site of the massacre -- notably by Taipei Financial Center Corp. Chairperson Janet Chia (賈永婕), and has drawn increased public interest in the tragedy ahead of the 228 memorial.

"I have noticed that many people visited Gikong Presbyterian Church recently, and I also hope that generations of Taiwanese, for years to come, will walk into historical sites across the nation to reflect on and contemplate the devastation that authoritarian rule inflicted on human rights and freedom," Lai said.

In Taipei, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) attended a memorial service at Gikong Presbyterian Church to mark the 46th anniversary of the Lin family massacre, where Hsiao also stressed the importance of understanding Taiwan's history.

"Understanding the past gives us the strength to face the future and cherish this land more deeply. It is our responsibility to safeguard this path of democracy -- one paved with lives, blood and tears," Hsiao said.