The exhibition on the Kaohsiung Incident that opened yesterday at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall provides a chance to reappraise a historical event as well as the merits and demerits of today's political parties, but the timing of the exhibition has triggered debate, coming just over 12 months ahead of next year's presidential election.
The Kaohsiung Incident was an anti-government demonstration organized by Formosa Magazine on Dec. 10, 1979. Originally meant to be a march in commemoration of International Human Rights Day, the event ended in a violent confrontation between marchers and riot police.
The government was quick to condemn violence and launched immediate arrests.
PFP Chairman James Soong's (
The KMT and the PFP yesterday criticized the display as politically motivated because of its focus on Soong's actions as GIO chief. Soong has joined forces with KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
However, DPP lawmakers and party officials said the exhibition simply seeks to present the truth.
On Thursday, several DPP lawmakers demanded Soong apologize for his actions as GIO chief after the incident.
Soong responded yesterday by saying that people should not care just about apologizing for history because it is more important to learn "how not to repeat the same mistake, how to heal, not to hate."
Saying he would like to express his sorrow to the victims, he called upon the public to "walk out of this historic shadow, to pursue democracy and forge tolerance."
Once known as the KMT's "make-up artist," Soong in his role as GIO chief sought to legitimize the government crackdown on pro-democracy activists in the weeks after the incident by describing the march's organizers as violent, seditious elements" and Formosa Magazine as "a source of conspired riot."
According to Taiwan Gar-rison Command, the government arrested a total of 61 people in the crackdown -- almost wiping out the top opposition activists. Eight of them faced court-martials on sedition charges and became known as the "Kaohsiung Eight."
The crackdown rocked the country and aroused political passions. But the nation was further shocked by the vicious murders of the mother and twin daughters of one of the eight -- Lin I-hsiung (
Public pressure forced the government to hold public trials for those arrested in the crackdown, allowing family members of the defendants and journalists to attend the court sessions.
The defendants' lengthy statements in their defense during the trials came to be viewed as lectures on politics and many people began to sympathize with their concern for the country's political future.
The impact of their statements is widely considered to have helped usher in the series of democratic reforms that Tai-wan underwent in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The incident also promoted a plethora of discussion on the nature of Taiwanese identity in culture, language and history.
As a landmark event in the nation's political development, the incident is often used as an index to determine the political positions of politicians and whether they should be credited or blamed for the nation's democratization.
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