The government should provide a firm timeline to transition Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei away from a location that “worships a statue of a dictator,” the Taiwan Youth Association for Transitional Justice and Kiong-seng said yesterday.
The association issued the call at its Gongsheng Music Festival in Taipei to raise awareness of the 228 Incident among young people.
Yesterday was the 79th anniversary of the bloody crackdown launched by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime against civilian demonstrators following an incident in Taipei on Feb. 27, 1947. The crackdown, which lasted into early May 1947, also marked the beginning of the White Terror era in Taiwan, in which thousands of people were arrested, imprisoned and executed.
Photo: Liu Hsiao-hsin, Taipei Times
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) in June last year said that the memorial hall would be turned into a “democracy education park,” but eight months have passed and the Executive Yuan has yet to provide any plans, the association said.
Meanwhile, “the public and foreign tourists continue to worship the dictator, ignoring the harm the dictator has caused to Taiwan’s democracy,” it said.
The Taipei City Government should remove the name “Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall” from bus stops and MRT stations, it added.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The demands are not meant to divide, but to allow the public to redefine the space and truly become the masters of the location, the association said.
Separately, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Nation Alliance held a memorial event commemorating the 228 Incident in front of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
Huang Chun-sheng (黃春生), a pastor, led a prayer to open the event, at which a list of people killed in the 228 Incident was carried up the stairs of the hall housing the statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) statue and around the hall, symbolizing “the dead staring back” at the symbol of authoritarian rule and rising above it.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The event closed with a requiem dance to convey “the commemoration of the dead by the living.”
At a separate ceremony held by the Taipei City Government, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) apologized in his capacity as mayor to the descendants of people killed in the 228 Incident.
Chiang Wan-an, a purported descendant of Chiang Kai-shek, said that since taking office in 2022, he has directed the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs to prioritize projects such as renovating Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, digitizing exhibitions and publishing two monographs by the end of this year.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“Our attitude and stance are clear. We will certainly not shun history, but rather try our best to present as many aspects of it as possible through historical materials,” he said.
During the event, a descendant of a person killed in the 228 Incident was seen wearing a paper bag over their head while carrying a placard that read: “Forgiveness is impossible without addressing the facts.”
Asked to comment on the protest, the mayor said the city government would “do its utmost to heal the wounds.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), founding chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), and TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) participated in the One Day North to South bicycle ride to commemorate the Incident.
Ko said that since 2016, he has participated in the ride — in which teams complete sections linking Taipei and Kaohsiung — every year on Feb. 28.
“For Taiwan, 228 is a day to reflect on history and cherish democracy, but it’s also important not to dwell in sorrow,” he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
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