President proposes march on 60th anniversary of 228 Incident

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on January 25, 2007. It reports that President Chen Shui-bian recently proposed that Taiwan should mark the 60th anniversary of the 228 Incident in 2007, by either holding a commemorative ceremony at the site of the incident or organizing a march to the site to mourn the victims of the massacre.

Alternatively, temples around Taiwan could toll bells and beat drums simultaneously at 2:28pm on February 28 to pray for the nation. "We want to vow, faithfully and steadfastly, that we will not allow this historical tragedy to be repeated. And we want to pray for the early realization of justice, peace, reconciliation and forgiveness," Chen said.

While many people in the past defined the 228 Incident as an ethnic conflict, Chen thinks that the nature of the incident was a suppression of democracy. According to the president, 40 percent of victims of the "white terror" during the martial law era were mainlanders, although the group accounted for only 15 percent of Taiwan's population. This is a fact that proves that anyone challenging the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang (KMT) government of the time would be subject to relentless suppression and persecution.

In addition to learning a lesion from the incident and protecting Taiwan's hard-fought democratic achievements, the government must address the issue of "transitional justice" as the country prepares to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the incident, Chen said.

According to the president, Taiwan needs to clarify the past authoritarian ruler's responsibility for human rights violations before it can walk out of the shadow of authoritarianism.

The 228 Incident is named after a rebellion sparked on February 28, 1947, against KMT rule. It has been estimated that some 30,000 people were killed by KMT troops in the months following the rebellion.