A group of young people participating in a forum on transitional justice yesterday urged schools to introduce teaching materials on the history and background of the 228 Incident.
The 228 Incident refers to a military crackdown by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration on civilian protesters that started on Feb. 27, 1947. Historians estimate that as many as 30,000 people were killed.
“Growing up, our generation only knew of Feb. 28 as a holiday, and we were just happy to have the day off from school, since teachers did not talk much about what had happened during the 228 Incident of 1947,” National Taiwan University College of Medicine student Chang Min-chao (張閔喬) told the forum.
“Only when I entered university did I have more exposure to literature and documents about that period, and the subsequent decades of White Terror rule by the KMT government. Reading the oral histories and interviews as told by victims’ families, I could feel their years-long fear, pain and suffering,” she said.
“We knew nothing about this through primary and secondary school, but it is important for students to know and understand this part of Taiwanese history,” Chang added.
A desire to learn more about that period led campaigner Tsai Yu-an (蔡喻安) to organize the Gongsheng Music Festival (共生音樂節) five years ago, which is this year to feature educational activities, musical performances and an outdoor exhibition on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei after a noontime march from the Executive Yuan on Tuesday.
“We started the event through student networking to attract young people to participate and learn more about the 228 Incident. We publish a booklet each year containing photographs and stories to relate young people to this Incident and get them involved in our work,” said Tsai, a graduate student at NTU.
Tsai said she has seen many young people realize the importance of Incident and how it affected Taiwan’s development.
“Many of them are hungry for more information, to read books and stories about that part of history, and to talk to the older generation about the White Terror era and the struggle for democracy,” she said.
Northern Taiwan Society deputy director Lee Chuan-hsin (李川信) said many young people in recent years have demanded the removal of statues of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and other symbols of the KMT’s authoritarian regime.
“We all know Chiang Kai-shek was the supreme KMT leader who made all decisions and was responsible for the massacres and atrocities following Feb. 28, 1947, but Chiang’s statues are still found in many schools and some people still revere him, paying respect to him year after year,” Lee said.
“It is time to end the blind cult of personality around this ruthless dictator. When worship of Chiang is terminated, then can we have real transitional justice in Taiwan,” Lee added.
The forum was hosted by the Northern Taiwan Society, the Union of Taiwanese Teachers, the Hakka Society and the Ketagalan Foundation.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS