Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, left, and President Ma Ying-jeou attend a ceremeony commemorating the victims of the 228 Incident in the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

The painful history of the 228 Incident — and the torment and grief that families of its victims still feel — were brought into sharp focus yesterday by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) when he delivered an emotional speech at the government’s memorial ceremony, after which it appeared that he refused to shake hands with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

A statue of Chiang Kai-shek at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City is decorated yesterday with a hemp mourning garment and signs demanding that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) apologize for its crimes in connection with the 228 Incident.
Screen grab from Internet

With the 68th anniversary of the 228 Incident approaching, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has come under fire from Academia Sinica modern history researcher Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), who said the administration is misrepresenting history and mitigating the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) responsibility for the 228 Incident.

The very nature of the 228 Incident, a historical tragedy that is the by-product of a clash of different ethnicities, is that it was a massacre of civilians by the KMT government, Chen said.