President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that academics are working to include Aboriginal perspectives into the discourse on the 228 Incident, now that discussion of the massacre is no longer taboo.
Tsai made the remarks in a speech at a forum on the 228 Incident and Taiwanese Aborigines at the Academia Historica in Taipei.
The 228 Incident refers to an uprising in 1947 against the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime and the resulting crackdown that left thousands dead and led to nearly four decades of martial law.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Aboriginal groups’ response to the massacre differed by community and region, indicating that the Incident is not a simple case of ethnic conflict, Tsai said.
New research conducted by the Academia Historica has discovered that the crackdown claimed many Aborigines and some Aboriginal leaders had strived to de-escalate the violence, she added.
The diversification of the nation’s historical memory that is inclusive of the experiences of all ethnic groups is part of the process for Taiwan’s reckoning with the 228 Incident and with historical truth, which are necessary to achieve transitional justice, she said.
“Confronting history honestly is the way for Taiwan to stay free and democratic, to never again permit the mistakes of the past to recur and to keep alive the hope for a better future,” Tsai said.
Academia Historica President Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深) said that the institute and its local depositories’ work to delve into rediscovered historical material has borne fruit, including the publication of a paper entitled “The 228 Incident in the Countryside” last year.
Evidence of Aboriginal collaboration and resistance can be seen in historical records of the 228 Incident, he said.
While a small minority of Aborigines joined the anti-government resistance in central Taiwan, Aboriginal communities in the south were split between collaboration and resistance, notably in Alishan (阿里山), and those in the east remained neutral, he said.
The Tsai administration has made strides in Aboriginal rights, Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod said, citing the Indigenous Languages Development Act (原住民族語言發展法) and nuclear waste disposal compensation to residents of Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼).
In other news, Vice President William Lai (賴清德) will not attend a 228 Incident event planned by the Taipei City Government, Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) confirmed on Wednesday.
Lai withdrew from the event due to a scheduling conflict and not because the city has also invited former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), he said.
Lai had informed the city government of his decision before Taiwan National Alliance said it would boycott the event to protest Ma’s appearance, he said.
However, alliance chairman Lee Pang-fu (李邦孚) said that Lai withdrew from the event shortly after the group told him of the boycott.
Additional reporting by Su Yong-yao
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