President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he would continue to apologize to victims of the 228 Incident and their families, and that while he would not ask for their forgiveness, he could assure them that such atrocities would never be repeated in Taiwan.
Ma said that while the 228 Incident was the most “heinous and important incident” in Taiwan’s modern history, the executions of Chang Chi-lang (張七郎) and two of his sons, Chang Tsung-jen (張宗仁) and Chang Kuo-jen (張果仁), were the most tragic and unjust.
“I cannot believe a government that was about to implement the Constitution could use such a grisly means to make such a serious and irreversible mistake,” he said. “I’m deeply sorry about what happened and I want to apologize. Many people have asked me: ‘Haven’t I apologized enough,’ but my answer to them is that I can never apologize enough.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Bowing to the ceiling-to-floor posters of Chang Chi-lang and his two sons, Ma said he would not ask for the forgiveness of the victims and their families, but he promised them he would never forget such brutality and that he would not allow such a thing to happen again.
“We can forgive errors made in the past, but we should never forget the lessons we learn from them,” he said. “That is a principle I will forever uphold.”
Ma made the remarks when attending a memorial service for Chang Chi-lang and his two sons at the National 228 Memorial Museum.
Yesterday also marked the first day of the museum’s exhibition of their documents and personal effects.
Chang Chi-lang was a National Assembly member who was killed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops in the aftermath of the 228 Incident. He was one of the Taiwanese who participated in the adoption of the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 25, 1946.
His two sons were practicing medicine at the hospital their father founded in Fonglin Township (鳳林), Hualien County. They were accused of “betraying the party and the country” and “organizing assassination operations.”
They were 31 and 25 when they were executed.
Ma said that as the real reason for the injustice was unclear, he hoped the 228 Memorial Foundation would help discover the truth.
“There is no taboo or inhibition. The more information we have, the clearer the truth will present itself,” he said.
National 228 Memorial Museum chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) said the 228 Memorial Foundation had formed a six-person truth-finding task force to study the 228 Incident and individual cases.
However, Chan said the organization does not have any legal powers and can only conduct studies from an historical perspective.
The task force, headed by former Overseas Compatriots Affairs Commission chairperson Chang Fu-mei (張富美), includes two historians, two representatives of victims’ families and two former Control Yuan members.
The foundation also plans to begin providing victims’ families with psychological counseling in a few months, he said, adding that the team would be led by Chen Yong-shing (陳永興), director of Saint Mary’s Hospital in Yilan.
Chang An-man (張安滿), the grandson of Chang Chi-lang, wept as he told stories of his grandfather and his father, Chang Tsung-jen.
He said his grandfather cheerfully welcomed the ROC government and KMT troops after Japan was defeated in World War II, but it was ROC troops who murdered him.
“I always wonder what kind of a government the ROC is and whether the national leaders are humans or beasts. How can they be so cruel to their people and their children? But I don’t have an answer,” he said. “I hope future leaders will never let such atrocities happen to Taiwanese again and that the truth of the 228 Incident will one day be known.”
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
Hong Kong’s Andy Lau (劉德華) on Wednesday announced that he would perform in Taiwan for the first time since 2013, with four shows at the Taipei Arena from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3. The concerts are part of Lau’s upcoming “Today... is the Day” tour, which began in Shanghai yesterday. He is also to perform in Singapore and Malaysia as part of the tour. In a news release, Lau said it felt good to be able to rehearse his dancing and singing for the tour, even though he had to don a face mask. “Holding these concerts has been something I have
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash