President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) attended this year’s 228 Incident memorial service in Chiayi County on Wednesday. February 28 is an official public holiday in Taiwan, also known as Peace Memorial Day, which commemorates those massacred by Kumointang (KMT) forces on February 28, 1947.
In President Tsai’s speech at the memorial, she said that the 228 Incident inspired the Taiwanese people’s desire for democracy and freedom, but that the growth of democracy was inhibited by authoritarian rule. She says this difficult past is a scar in Taiwan’s history, and to heal it the causes must be understood and the truth must be confronted honestly. Tsai says that only then can true reconciliation occur and the past no longer be a cause of Taiwan’s division.
Tsai adds that transitional justice efforts are not directed at a particular political party, but rather are about a democratic government taking responsibility for the wrongdoings of past authoritarian rule, rectifying suffering, and honestly confronting Taiwan’s past so that democratic institutions can deepen and evolve.
In her speech, President Tsai also outlined the government’s transitional justice work over the past eight years, including the establishment of the Organizational Act of the National Human Rights Museum and the Political Archives Act. The latter allows previously classified political files to be declassified after 40 years and went into effect on Wednesday. The President further shared how the Memorial Foundation of 228 has already compensated 2,340 victims and has identified another 4,000 possible victims.
Tsai hopes that people from all walks of life will not forget, nor should they be afraid of remembering.