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."