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Freezing of 228 foundation budget blasted

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin, center, and relatives of victims of the 228 Incident protest the legislature's decision to freeze the NT$300 million (US$9.2 million) budget for the 228 Memorial Foundation yesterday. PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators traded barbs with their Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterparts yesterday over the legislature's resolution to freeze funding for the 228 Memorial Foundation.

DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) yesterday said she felt "sad, sorry and indignant" that the Ministry of Education's NT$300 million (US$9.2 million) budget request for the 228 Memorial Foundation was frozen by the legislature.

"They [the KMT] said they would take care of the 228 Incident victims and their family members. It seems to me that they were lying," Tien told a news conference.

The 228 Incident is the name given to the KMT's crackdown on demonstrators and local elites after a confrontation between officials and Taipei residents on Feb. 27, 1947. The incident culminated in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Taiwanese.

Describing the 228 Incident as an example of "state violence," Tien said the foundation's operations were necessary "to prevent similar tragedies from happening again and to educate the people about the historical truth."

Chou Chen-tsai (周振才), a family member of a 228 victim, said that during elections the KMT always promised victims and their families that they would do their best to care for them in the legislature.

"Now, I feel that I have been fooled. The truth is, they never changed," Chou said.

KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said at a separate setting that the KMT had not slashed the budget without a reason.

"The DPP did not clearly explain when, where, what, who and how the money would be used in the proposal. Of course we would oppose it," she said.

Hung said the money should not have been allocated by the Ministry of Education and that the few staff of the foundation receive monthly salaries of NT$50,000 "without doing anything."

Quoting Ministry of Education officials who said the foundation was "facilitating ethnic harmony in Taiwanese society," Hung said that "enhancing ethnic harmony" was already a ministry policy and that this work had been done without the help of the foundation.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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