Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Making sense of the 228 Incident

Chen Yi-shen 陳儀深

During his speech to commemorate the 228 Incident, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) compared it to the “Jasmine Revolutions” now underway in North Africa and the Middle East, saying that both events were about the fight for democracy and freedom. He also said that Ong Thiam-teng , who at the time was president of the Taipei Tea Merchants’ Association and a member of the Provincial Council and was killed in the wake of the incident, was an idealistic intellectual. In short, Ma said that the 228 Incident was not a conflict between ethnic groups and that it had nothing to do with the subsequent Taiwanese independence movement. Rather, he described it as an inevitable movement of popular resistance against injustice.

DPP wins two legislative by-elections

Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates for legislative by-elections in Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung both defeated their Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterparts yesterday, increasing the party’s number of seats in the Legislative Yuan to 33, compared to the KMT’s 73 seats.

According to a statement from the Kaohsiung City Election Commission, vote counting for the legislative by-election was completed at 5:25pm, with a voter turnout of 33.97 percent.”

Respected Taiwanese elder urges clean break with Republic of China in-exile

Michael Richardson

Yang Liu Hsiu-hwa, the widow of Taiwanese Independence advocate C.C. Yang, has stepped into the public arena at age 90 years-old to speak for Taiwan.

Mrs. Yang was moved to action by a recent article in the Liberty Times where it was pointed out that Taiwan’s incomplete construction of a sovereign independent state was because of the presence of another government’s system, the Republic of China.

The 228 whitewashing continues

Woody Cheng 鄭梓

On Monday, the 64th anniversary of the 228 Incident, the National 228 Memorial Museum on Nanhai Road in Taipei was officially opened to the public. It matters not whether the 228 Incident is called a rebellion or an uprising, and whether this indelible event in post-war Taiwan is seen as a scar, burn or birthmark it was a tragic beginning that changed the course of Taiwanese history.

Feb. 28 has been designated a national holiday — Peace Memorial Day — and the Presidential Office, the symbol of the highest power in the land, always flies the national flag at half-mast on that date as a sign of mourning.

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