The Taipei 228 Memorial Museum is reopening its doors to the public this morning after a 10-month renovation, but its efforts to reveal the truth of the 228 Incident met with challenges as pro--independence activists and family members of the incident’s victims yesterday accused the museum of glorifying the acts of the then-government and distorting the truth with its selection of documents.
The renovated interior design and the documents on display in the permanent exhibition, they said, turned the museum into a bright and beautiful hall that reflected little of the tragic event, and described the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime’s bloody crackdown on demonstrators in 1947 as the government’s exercise of authority.
“My grandfather disappeared shortly after participating in the investigation of the 228 Incident and asking the then-KMT government to stop killing innocent civilians. However, the exhibition said the then-government was trying to restore public order. I am stunned by such an interpretation of history,” said Lee Te-cheng (李德振), whose grandfather’s body was never found after he disappeared.
Touring the museum, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏), former Academia Historica president Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲) and former Taipei 228 Memorial Museum director Yeh Po-wen (葉博文) joined Lee in challenging the museum and the Taipei City Government, saying the government had demonstrated arrogance with its interpretation of history and had disrespected the victims and their families.
“What can our children learn about the tragic 228 Incident when all they see is a beautiful room filled with music, great photos of [former dictator] Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and documents that portray the demonstrators as mobs?” Chien said.
Chang said the museum displayed an official order from -Chiang from March 1947 that banned military from taking any revenge measures against civilians following the 228 Incident. However, two other valuable historical documents that showed Chiang ordering then-Taiwan governor Chen Yi (陳儀) to lead troops to Taiwan to handle the accident were not on display.
Yeh said the exhibition also failed to show the exact number of victims of the 228 Incident and failed to discuss Chiang’s responsibility and urged the museum to delay its reopening ceremony and rearrange its exhibit.
Hsieh Ying-tseng (謝英從), director of the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, yesterday said the museum had included more documents in its exhibition after Chang and other family members of the 228 Incident victims made suggestions.
“The exhibition objectively shows how the incident happened, the then-government’s handling and the victims and their family members’ reactions via historical documents. We do not make any interpretations and we respect different voices,” he said.
According to Hsieh, the museum began the discussion about updating the exhibition in 2007, and invited history experts including National Chengchi University history professor Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明) and Hsu Hsueh-chi (許雪姬), head of Academia Historica’s Institute of Modern History, to discuss the contents of the exhibition.
The museum also held a three-month preview exhibition in 2009 to collect opinions on the exhibition, before closing the museum in April last year for renovation, he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will attend the reopening ceremony of the museum at 10am today. The museum will be open daily from 10am to 5pm and be closed on Mondays.
The 228 Incident refers to the KMT’s bloody crackdown on demonstrators under Chiang’s administration in 1947 after a woman was beaten for selling contraband cigarettes in Taipei on the night of Feb. 27, 1947.
The beating sparked nationwide disorder and the slaughter of tens of thousands of Taiwanese at the hands of KMT troops.
The KMT did not acknowledge the past mistakes nor offer public apologies over the incident until former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) administration. Ma has promised to make more effort to uncover the truth of the incident since taking office, and a national museum on the 228 Incident is scheduled to open on Feb. 28 in Taipei.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
OVERWHELMING SUPPORT: The bill with US$2 billion in Foreign Military Financing Program funds and US$1.9 billion to replenish defense articles passed the House 385-34 Taiwan is to continue working with the US to ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday after the US House of Representatives approved a US$95 billion foreign aid package with funding for Taiwan. The bills were passed with bipartisan support in a rare Saturday session after votes had been delayed for months by House Republicans. After clearing the House, the bills — containing US$8 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, along with US$60.8 billion for Kyiv, and US$26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones — would be combined into a
The navy next month is expected to commission into service two more domestically built Tuo Chiang-class stealth missile corvettes, a source said yesterday. The Hsu Chiang (旭江, PGG-621) and the Wu Chiang (武江, PGG-623) would be officially commissioned in a ceremony early next month, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The corvettes, launched in February and June last year respectively, were delivered to the navy in February. They are the third and fourth Tuo Chiang-class stealth missile corvettes to be produced. The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a domestically designed and manufactured class of fast and stealthy multipurpose corvette built for the