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Ma vows 228 Incident won’t be
repeated
SEEKING THE TRUTH: Steve Chan said the 228
Memorial Foundation has formed a six-person truth-finding task force to study
the 228 Incident and individual cases
By Ko Shu-ling / Staff Reporter
A family member of Chang Chi-lang,
a victim of the 228 Incident, wipes away tears during his speech at a special
ceremony held at the National 228 Memorial Museum yesterday to commemorate Chang
and his two sons, who lost their lives in the incident.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday
said he would continue to apologize to victims of the 228 Incident and their
families, and that while he would not ask for their forgiveness, he could assure
them that such atrocities would never be repeated in Taiwan.
Ma said that while the 228 Incident was the most “heinous and important
incident” in Taiwan’s modern history, the executions of Chang Chi-lang (張七郎) and
two of his sons, Chang Tsung-jen (張宗仁) and Chang Kuo-jen (張果仁), were the most
tragic and unjust.
“I cannot believe a government that was about to implement the Constitution
could use such a grisly means to make such a serious and irreversible mistake,”
he said. “I’m deeply sorry about what happened and I want to apologize. Many
people have asked me: ‘Haven’t I apologized enough,’ but my answer to them is
that I can never apologize enough.”
Bowing to the ceiling-to-floor posters of Chang Chi-lang and his two sons, Ma
said he would not ask for the forgiveness of the victims and their families, but
he promised them he would never forget such brutality and that he would not
allow such a thing to happen again.
“We can forgive errors made in the past, but we should never forget the lessons
we learn from them,” he said. “That is a principle I will forever uphold.”
Ma made the remarks when attending a memorial service for Chang Chi-lang and his
two sons at the National 228 Memorial Museum.
Yesterday also marked the first day of the museum’s exhibition of their
documents and personal effects.
Chang Chi-lang was a National Assembly member who was killed by Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) troops in the aftermath of the 228 Incident. He was one
of the Taiwanese who participated in the adoption of the Republic of China (ROC)
Constitution in Nanjing, China, on Dec. 25, 1946.
His two sons were practicing medicine at the hospital their father founded in
Fonglin Township (鳳林), Hualien County. They were accused of “betraying the party
and the country” and “organizing assassination operations.”
They were 31 and 25 when they were executed.
Ma said that as the real reason for the injustice was unclear, he hoped the 228
Memorial Foundation would help discover the truth.
“There is no taboo or inhibition. The more information we have, the clearer the
truth will present itself,” he said.
National 228 Memorial Museum chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) said the 228 Memorial
Foundation had formed a six-person truth-finding task force to study the 228
Incident and individual cases.
However, Chan said the organization does not have any legal powers and can only
conduct studies from an historical perspective.
The task force, headed by former Overseas Compatriots Affairs Commission
chairperson Chang Fu-mei (張富美), includes two historians, two representatives of
victims’ families and two former Control Yuan members.
The foundation also plans to begin providing victims’ families with
psychological counseling in a few months, he said, adding that the team would be
led by Chen Yong-shing (陳永興), director of Saint Mary’s Hospital in Yilan.
Chang An-man (張安滿), the grandson of Chang Chi-lang, wept as he told stories of
his grandfather and his father, Chang Tsung-jen.
He said his grandfather cheerfully welcomed the ROC government and KMT troops
after Japan was defeated in World War II, but it was ROC troops who murdered
him.
“I always wonder what kind of a government the ROC is and whether the national
leaders are humans or beasts. How can they be so cruel to their people and their
children? But I don’t have an answer,” he said. “I hope future leaders will
never let such atrocities happen to Taiwanese again and that the truth of the
228 Incident will one day be known.”
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