The 228 National Memorial Hall would be another public structure to commemorate the Feb. 28 Incident, which refers to a series of events in 1947 that led to a brutal crackdown by the then Kuomintang (KMT) government against the local population, particularly the intelligentsia.

"The founding of a 228 memorial hall represents the current KMT administration's ability to engage in self-reflection and its courage to face history," Ma said.

The memorial, scheduled to be inaugurated on Feb. 28, 2011, will be located on Nanhai Road in Taipei City at the site of a building that was constructed in 1931. It had housed the Taiwan education hall during the period of Japanese colonization, the Taiwan provincial assembly and the news center of the American Institute in Taiwan.

Addressing a ceremony to mark the integration of the planned memorial hall and the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, Ma said the two establishments could engage in a joint business venture. He was responding to criticisms in some quarters that a 228 National Memorial Hall would be a "waste of public resources" as there is already a structure that serves same the purpose, occupying an area of about 2 sq. km. in Taipei City.

"Make it a joint venture, rather than a merger," Ma suggested.

He said exhibits of all kinds could be housed or displayed at the memorial hall, including ones that reflect bitter criticism of former KMT leaders.

"Only when we can face historical truths squarely, without any cover-ups, will we strike the right attitude," the president said.

"Using this perspective to manage the national memorial hall, we can turn the saddest incident in Taiwan's history into a means of lifting the quality of politics in the country," he added.

In 1990, the Executive Yuan set up a task force of scholars and other experts to study the 228 Incident. The "Report of the 228 Incident" was published in 1992, and a memorial was set up in 1995 in the 228 Peace Park in Taipei City.

In October 1995, a non-profit 228 Incident Memorial Foundation was established to deal with matters relating to compensation and rehabilitation of 228 Incident victims.

Over the past years, the foundation has disbursed at least NT$7.2 billion (US$218 million) in compensation to the families of the victims in 2,264 cases involving deaths, missing people, incarceration and defamation.

(By Garfie Lee and Deborah Kuo)