An exhibition on the 228 Redress Movement that was led by late democracy pioneer Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕) was launched in Taipei yesterday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 228 Incident and 30th anniversary of the movement’s inception.
The 228 Incident refers to an uprising in 1947 against the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime and the resulting brutal crackdown that left tens of thousands dead and led to nearly four decades of martial law.
Deng was imprisoned in 1986 without trial after then-Taipei city councilor Chang Te-ming (張德銘) accused him of swaying voters ahead of local elections by publishing articles in Deng’s Freedom Era Weekly magazine.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Deng’s wife, former presidential office secretary-general Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), said at the exhibition’s opening ceremony yesterday that the first task Deng embarked on after his release from prison in 1987 was to seek repatriations for people who were killed in the massacre and oppressed during the White Terror era.
Shortly after his release from prison, Deng cofounded the 228 Peace Day Association and, during martial law, launched the first march advocating redress for those oppressed during the massacre, and for the government to designate Feb. 28 as a national holiday.
More marches followed, and as the following grew, Deng and other association members were frequently targeted by police officers, Yeh said.
“Thirty years later, everyone in the nation can speak freely about and research the 228 Massacre,” she said, calling the movement a “key” that unlocked the shackles placed on society during the White Terror era.
“Only when pain is remembered by the citizenry are history’s lessons learned. Only by learning the truth and understanding the past can Taiwan become a truly normalized and healthy nation,” she said.
“History should not be forgotten,” association cofounder Lee Sheng-hsiung (李勝雄) said.
Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was the perpetrator of the 228 Massacre, Lee said, criticizing Chiang’s descendants, several of whom are politicians, for never apologizing for this atrocity.
Several people who were reported missing in the White Terror era are still unaccounted for, Lee said, urging surviving White Terror perpetrators and their descendants to come forward and explain what actually happened to those people and apologize so that they might be forgiven.
“The democracy people enjoy today is built on the tears, blood and sweat of democracy pioneers and countless broken families,” democracy movement pioneer Lin Tsung-cheng (林宗正) said.
This year’s 228 Incident commemorative events include a re-enactment of the 1987 Tainan march, which is being organized by National Cheng Kung University Student Union member Wu Hsin-ju (吳馨如).
To raise awareness of the 228 Incident, Wu has invited the public to participate in the march, which is to feature replicas of two banners and one sign used by Deng and association members.
The march is to take place on Feb. 28 at 2:28pm from Nanmen Florist Market in Tainan’s Nanmen Road and end at Tang Te-chang Memorial Park.
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the
RSS