Tue, Feb 28, 2006 page8

• Editorial: Taiwan is no longer willing to forget

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  Starting at noon today there will be a special procession of people holding chrysanthemums in the streets around central Taipei to remember the victims of the 228 Incident. Similar processions will be held in other cities and counties nationwide. These are intended to express the profound sentiment felt by the public for those who perished. The lessons that can be learned from this terrible time have to be passed on.

  The end of World War II meant that the people of Taiwan were finally free from half a century of Japanese colonialist rule. The US handed responsibility for the protection of the island over to the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), based in Nanking.

  But not even two years had elapsed before this administration dispatched a military force to engage in a campaign of indiscriminate, then calculated, slaughter. The Nationalist troops set about systematically eliminating the local elite. Thousands of respected Taiwanese met their end over this period. Many of their bodies were never found.

  The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government used savage terror tactics to consolidate its power for five decades. No one dared to openly discuss the 228 Incident until the late 1980s. The government didn't hold an official inquiry into the incident until former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) came to power. Finally, the reputations of the victims, who had been branded as gangsters or insurgents, could be restored, and their families could receive some kind of compensation.

  However, the government has consistently failed to come clean about who ordered the slaughter and who the butchers were who carried out these acts with such impunity.

  Last week Academia Historica President Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲) and a group of historians released a report commissioned by the 228 Memorial Foundation that claims Chiang was the prime culprit. The report also accuses Chen Yi (陳儀), then Taiwan executive administrator; Ko Yuan-fen (柯遠芬), then head of the Taiwan Garrison; and Peng Meng-chi (彭孟緝), commander of the Kaohsiung forces, of being accomplices.

  However, this report has no legal standing. It is not an official report and the government has not sought to have its findings confirmed by legal proceedings or by an official investigation committee. So the victims may have been identified, but the perpetrators have not been held to account.

  What have we learned from this incident? Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), a former Democratic Progressive Party chairman, hit the nail on the head when he said, "Taiwanese should learn from the mistakes of the past. They should not believe the government would never slaughter its people, or that a small group of corrupt rulers represent all the Mainlanders in Taiwan. It will only have been worth it if we prevent an authoritarian government from controlling us again."

  Faced with volatile cross-strait relations, many Taiwanese argue this nation depends on China to thrive. They are apparently able to delude themselves that despite Beijing's despotic and bloody record, it is able and willing to respect the principles of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.

  The Taiwanese have already suffered tremendously as a result of such misconceptions. While commemorating the 228 victims, we must seek to ensure that we shall never suffer another similar tragedy and educate those who are disdainful or ignorant of history, particularly our legislators.
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