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'228' marked with exhibits, concerts
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Feb 24, 2010, Page 3
The Memorial Foundation of 228 yesterday began a series of activities that
includes exhibitions, concerts and a church service to mark the 63rd anniversary
of the 228 Incident.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will also attend a national memorial service in
Tainan City on Sunday to commemorate the 1947 massacre, the foundation said.
Foundation chief executive Liao Chie-ping (廖繼斌) said victims and their families
are most concerned about two things: the fatalities of the historic tragedy and
finding official documents related to the incident.
While some placed the number of victims at 17,000, the foundation said it had
issued compensation to only 860 who were confirmed dead or missing and presumed
dead as of the deadline of October 2004. The foundation said it believed there
were at least 1,163 people out there who are eligible for compensation but have
yet to file an application.
Liao, whose grandfather went missing during the incident, said he never found
out what happened to him, except for hearsay evidence that he was executed in
Tamsui (淡水), Taipei County, and that his body was dumped into the sea.
He said his long-term study indicated that there are many more files and
documents concerning the incident that have been hidden or destroyed by the
authorities, further hampering their efforts to discover the truth.
Liao said his grandfather, for example, was listed among “20 criminals” in an
official document. The list was presented to dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) by
the executive administrator of Taiwan then, Chen Yi (陳儀), in March 1947.
However, the document contained only their names. Other detailed information
such as their “crimes,” interviews or even trials were nowhere to be found. Liao
said all 20 people were members of the social elite and 17 were either dead or
missing.
Liao said he suspected somebody at Taiwan Garrison Command might have taken the
documents knowing that once they were found, the charges would not hold.
Some documents might have been stashed away by the authorities involved, Liao
said, citing the case of Tu Kuang-ming (涂光明).
Liao said Tu's son, Tu Shih-wen (涂世文), filed a defamation lawsuit against Peng
Yin-kang (彭蔭剛), the son of then-commander of the Kaohsiung Fortress, Peng Meng-chi
(彭孟緝), in January 1998 after Peng Yin-kang called Tu Kuang-ming a “thug” in a
newspaper article, saying Tu Kuang-ming had threatened his father to surrender
at gunpoint.
To defend himself, Liao said Peng Yin-kang produced the original of a verdict
issued by the Kaohsiung Fortress in March 1947 saying that Tu Kuang-ming, along
with three other men, had committed treason and deserved to die.
The Peng family had kept the document for more than 50 years before it was shown
in court that day. The catch is the Kaohsiung Fortress did not have the
authority to try and convict a civilian, Liao said.
Peng Meng-chi later claimed that the ruling was handed down by a district court
judge, Sun Te-keng (孫德耕), Liao said. However, Peng Meng-chi's claim would only
prove that it was a mistrial because a district court could not hear a treason
case, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, Liao said.
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