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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.)
  4. Unarmed gatherings and organizations shall enjoy complete freedom.
  5. 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.
  6. The Regulations in force covering the formation of popular organizations shall be abolished.
  7. The Regulations governing the [Nationalist Party] scrutiny of the capacity of candidates for membership in representative organs of public opinion shall be abolished.
  8. Regulations governing the election of members of various grades in representative organs of public opinion shall be revised.
  9. 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:
  10. 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
  11. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. No government organs other than the civil police can arrest criminals.
  4. Arrest or confinement of a political nature shall be prohibited.
  5. All chiefs of local courts of justice and all chief prosecutors in all local courts of justice shall be Formosans.
  6. The majority of judges, prosecutors and other court staff members shall be Formosans.
  7. 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

  1. A uniform Progressive Income Tax shall be levied. No other sundry taxes shall be levied except the Luxury Tax and the Inheritance Tax.
  2. Managers in charge of all public enterprises shall be Formosans.
  3. 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.
  4. The Monopoly Bureau shall be abolished. A system for rationing daily necessities shall be instituted.
  5. The Trading Bureau shall be abolished.
  6. The Central Government must be asked to authorize the Provincial Government to dispose of Japanese properties.

 

IV. Reforms affecting military administration of Formosa

  1. The military police shall arrest no one other than military personnel.
  2. As many Formosans as possible shall be appointed to Army, Navy, and Air Force posts on Formosa.
  3. The Garrison Headquarters must be abolished to avoid the misuse of military privilege.

 

V. Reforms affecting social welfare problems

  1. The political and economic rights and social position of the aborigines must be guaranteed.
  2. Workmen's protection measures must be put into effect from June 1, 1947.
  3. Detained war criminals and those suspected of treason must be released unconditionally.*

 

VI. Subordinate demands, subject to compromise

  1. 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.
  2. The Central Government must be asked to pay for the sugar exported to the mainland on order of the Executive Yuan.
  3. 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.]

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* Item V-3: This was designed to secure the immediate release of wealthy and prominent Formosans who had been held for more than a year on vague charges of "treason" and "war crimes," apparently on the grounds that they could not have acquired great wealth without "treasonous alliance" with the Japanese. They were paying continuous "installment" ransom to ensure their lives and the security of their extensive holdings.
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