At the same time as a memorial event to mark the 56th anniversary of the 228 Incident was underway at Taipei's 228 Peace Park, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) were toasting each other's success at the Taipei Ambassador Hotel in their joint campaign for next year's presidential election.
Joined by KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正), PFP Secretary-General Tsai Chung-hsiung (蔡鐘雄) and Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), around 30 KMT lawmakers attended the dinner party as leaders of the two opposition parties pledged to create a better future for the nation and the people.
The timing of the dinner party, however, was regarded inappropriate by DPP legislative leader Chiu Chui-chen (邱垂貞).
"It's ironic," said Chiu yesterday of the pan-blue camp's dinner party on Thursday night.
"While people around the nation were holding memorial ceremonies to mark the 56th anniversary of the tragic event, both Lien and Soong -- both members of the old KMT regime that sent battle-hardened troops to suppress the [228] uprising -- were there celebrating their joint partnership for next year's presidential election," Chiu said.
The KMT and PFP reached an agreement earlier last month to link up for next year's presidential election. Lien is to run for the presidency with Soong as his running mate.
"The 228 Incident was a truly tragic event for the nation," Chiu said, who spent four years in jail for taking part in the 1947 anti-KMT demonstration. "[Lien and Soong] should take this opportunity for introspection, not celebrating their party partnership."
"After all, is the presidential election really so important that they must hold the dinner party on the eve of the 228 Incident and not sometime later?" Chiu asked.
KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) dismissed suggestions that the timing of the dinner party suggested the pan-blue camp was guilty of disrespect.
"It was simply a coincidence that the dinner party happened to be on the eve of the 228 Incident," Chen said, adding that the time was chosen to give people a chance to attend before the holiday weekend started.
Agreeing with Chen, deputy convener of the PFP legislative caucus Chiu Yi (邱毅) said that the gathering was simply a chance for dinner.
"I think it's a problem only [to those whom] relate it to the 228 Incident," he said.
Director of the TSU's Department of Culture and Information Hsiao Kwan-yu (蕭貫譽), however, said to dismiss the dinner as coincidence was not sufficient to excuse the irony of the situation.
"To choose to hold the dinner party on the eve of the 228 Incident highlighted not only how little both Lien and Soong are attached to the event that plays a great importance in the nation's history but also their ignorance to it," Hsiao said, adding that Thursday's dinner party was also the pan-blue camp's attempt to make light of the seriousness of the 228 Incident.
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