News Photos
Search Advanced Sign in / Register fans
 
SOCIETY    
 

Advertisement

Seminar looks at effect of 228 on modern Taiwan
By Dennis Engbarth
Taiwan News, Staff Reporter
Page 4
2009-02-28 12:51 AM
Leading Taiwan history scholars warned yesterday that failure to clarify historical responsibility for the "February 28th Incident" of 1947 and the subsequent "white terror" under the rule of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) remains dangerous to social peace in today's Taiwan.

A two-day conference on "Historical Education and Heritage of the February 28th Incident" held at the Kaohsiung City Bureau of Labor and sponsored jointly by the February 28th Incident Memorial Foundation and the Kaohsiung City government as part of a series of activities commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the "228 massacre" explored many aspects of the incident.

The seminar covered topics ranging from the role of media, including the independent Taiwanese "Renmin Daobao" (People's Tribune) daily, radio broadcasting and mainland Chinese newspapers in the early postwar period and the "228" incident itself to explorations of the problems in realizing "transitional justice" for victims of state violence and human rights violations of the "228 Incident" and the following 38 years of Kuomintang - imposed martial law and the difficulties faced by secondary and tertiary teachers who engage in instruction of "228" related topics.

In discussing the difficulties of realizing "transitional justice" for the victims of state violence in Taiwan, National Chengchi University Assistant Professor of public administration Chang Kuo-jung observed that the process of realizing "truth and reconciliation" in new democratic countries worldwide had to be based on law but "does not only depend on legal principles but on political and social power."

Chang noted that progress during the eight years of Democratic Progressive Party administration toward "transitional justice" was "difficult" since the former authoritarian KMT continued to hold majority control over the Legislative Yuan during all eight years of DPP governance.

However, Chang said that facing the past is absolutely critical for the future of a democratic society..

"If we do not settle accounts with authoritarian history, people will not learn how to respect human rights or cherish human dignity and will not know how to struggle for human rights or ... know whether to resist illegal orders," said Chang, a former education minister chief secretary.

"Many Taiwanese have not emerged from the nightmare of being victims, but even more tragic is that many 'mainlanders' remain trapped in the nightmare of the victimizer even though virtually all of the people brought by the KMT regime to Taiwan are also victims," said Lee.

National Chengchi University Taiwan history Professor Hsueh Hua-yuan stated that the "ethnic" gulf between "so-called mainlanders" and "native Taiwanese" was rooted in "the lack of clarity over the truth and responsibility" for ?28' and the decades of "white terror."

 
Have Your Say :

We welcome your comments on this and other stories. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Please provide your full name and suburb/location. We also require a working e-mail address – not for publication, but for verification only.

 
Post your feedback
 
 
 
More Stories
Russia extends moratorium on death penalty   2009-11-21
Republicans berate U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner, call for him to resign: report   2009-11-21
Taiwan donates funds for global bird conservation   2009-11-21
Wang says Yankees still his first choice   2009-11-21
Cultural center   2009-11-21
Suicide bomber kills at least 16 in western Afghanistan   2009-11-21
Replenished Formosan sika deer brings pride to Taiwan   2009-11-20
British POWs remember prisoner of war life in Taiwan   2009-11-20
Grandparents more understanding than fathers: schoolchildren   2009-11-20
KMT vice chair meets Chinese donor for Morakot victims   2009-11-20
Taiwan donates funds for international bird conservation   2009-11-20
University of California to raise fees by 32 percent   2009-11-20
Budding choreographer wins top prize in Britain   2009-11-20
Perishing red algae   2009-11-20
Butterfly habitat withstands typhoon   2009-11-20
Typhoon victims protest relocation plans   2009-11-20
19 killed in courthouse bombing in NW Pakistan   2009-11-20
Changhua magistrate lauds anti-domestic violence efforts   2009-11-19
Kaohsiung human rights school opens   2009-11-19
Taiwan's world-class butterfly habitat withstands typhoon damage   2009-11-19
 
01     02   03   04   05   06   07   Next   >
 
To search for articles form the past seven days, Click on ARCHIVES
  7day free
 
 
TOP

©2009 Taiwan News All Rights Reserved.