President Ma Ying-jeou says on the 228 Peace Memorial Day that he hopes to push for social reconciliation along with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je.
Ma made the comments on Saturday during an annual ceremony commemorating the 228 Incident, an anti-government uprising in 1947. The uprising was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang (KMT) government. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in a massacre that marked the beginning of the KMT’s White Terror rule.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s grandfather fell ill and died a few years later after he was detained and severely beaten during the 228 Incident. President Ma said he hopes the capital city could work with the central government to reconcile differences between people of different generations and political stances. He also urged people to never forget the lesson from the 228 Incident and never repeat that history.
Taipei Mayor Ko, who also attended the ceremony as representative of the victims’ families, chocked up several times when giving a speech about his grandfather. He said the memorial day was a sad day, but that society must think about how to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.