Thu, May 11, 2000 page2

• Dispute rages over 228 Memorial Museum

  CULTURE A City Council meeting to determine the future of the 228 Memorial Museum turned into a farce as emotion got the better of the participants

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  In addition to verbal clashes and table pounding among councilors and attendants at a meeting yesterday, a report on the management of the city-owned, privately-run 228 Memorial Museum at the Taipei City Council ended in chaos with no final bidder winning a new contract to run the institution.

  DPP city councilor Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) called the morning meeting -- which was also open to the families of victims of the 228 Incident of 1947 -- so that they could "understand the facts" of the contract entanglement.

  The dispute involves the consignor of the museum -- Taipei City Government's Cultural Affairs Bureau -- and the present consignee, the Taiwan Peace Foundation (台灣和平基金會).

  

  Iap Phok-bun, curator of the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, refutes accusations from city councilors yersterday as Lung Ying-tai, director of the city's Cultural Affairs Bureau, looks on.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  The trouble began earlier this year, when the city's cultural affairs bureau, headed by writer Lung Ying-tai (龍應台), decided against renewing the management contract for the foundation.

  The bureau later extended the contract by one month as an interim measure. Lung had said earlier that the bureau would temporarily take over the management if a second round of bidding failed, and slated a third round of bidding for May 17.

  The first open bid for a new management on April 29 failed to attract any bidder. A second bid scheduled for yesterday afternoon failed to reach a conclusion after neither of two bidders were able to meet required criteria.

  Even though the subject of yesterday's meeting was the museum's entrusted management, the meeting took a detour that included several emotional confrontations.

  New Party City Councilor Jeffery Shew (許淵國) first asked whether it was appropriate to allow the public to sit in on the meeting, and then questioned whether the director of the museum and executive-general of the foundation, Iap Phok-bun (葉博文), should be present to answer their questions.

  Shew also voiced his discontent over the fact that Iap had invited his lawyer to attend.

  Chen Ching-hsiu (陳清秀), Director of the city's Rules and Regulations Commission (法規委員會), confirmed that the election process for the foundation's new chairman and board of director members was illegal, and that therefore the bureau had the absolute right not to issue budgeted funds for the museum.

  DPP City Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) called Iap "shameless" and "detestable."

  "It's shameless of you not to provide the bureau with financial details and for you to exploit the former chairman, who is also a 228 Incident survivor, and other 228 Incident survivors for your personal interest," he said. "It is detestable that you have split the board of directors and spoken nasty things about the city."

  While family members cheered Wang's comments, Iap became enraged by the accusations and began pounding the table, threatening to file a lawsuit against him for slander.

  New Party City Councilor Chin Li-fang (秦儷舫) proposed that the city should give the foundation more management autonomy.

  "Since the foundation has the ability to raise funds itself and as Iap was upset about the city's interference, why on earth should we budget NT$50 billion to support it?" she said.

  DPP City Councilor Chen Hsiu-hui's (陳秀惠) said that the 228 Incident was a tragedy for the real Taiwanese -- a remark that outraged Chin, of mainland descent.

  The museum was established in 1997 on the 50th anniversary of the 228 Incident, a time when President-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was serving as mayor of Taipei. It is also the city's first city-owned, but privately-managed museum.

  The 228 Incident refers to a series of events that began on Feb. 28, 1947, that prompted a bloody crackdown on native Taiwanese by KMT troops.

  Many of Taiwan's most prominent citizens and leading intellectuals were dragged from their homes, some to be killed, while others disappeared without explanation.

  The actual number of people killed and missing is still unknown, but some place the figure in the tens of thousands.
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