[3079] PCT churches across Taiwan remember 228 Peace Memorial Day and call for truth and justice

3079 Edition
February 28-March 6, 2010
Headline News

PCT churches across Taiwan remember 228 Peace Memorial Day and call for truth and justice

Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

Written by Lydia Ma

This year’s 228 Peace Memorial Day coincided with the grand opening of the National 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei where President Ma Ying-jeou apologized to victims and their families on behalf of the government during the opening ceremony.

However, comparing the description plaques inside the museum with the Act for Handling and Compensation for the 228 Incident passed in 2006, it’s impossible to miss the fact that, when explaining what actually happened in 1947, the word “massacre” in the 1996 document has been replaced by words such as “restoring order” and “crushing an insurgency” on museum plaques.

PCT Church and Society Committee Secretary Huang Che-yen not only called into question the sincerity of the Ma administration’s apology over the 228 Massacre in light of such a revisionist interpretation, but also expressed concern that Taiwanese society at large seemed nonchalant about such an interpretation and the media seemed only too happy to oblige the Ma administration in brainwashing Taiwanese people.

“Unless Taiwanese people experience this oppression first-hand and realize there are more important things than a booming economy, they will continue to dismiss what happened in 1947,” said Huang.

PCT General Assembly on 228 Massacre

PCT Church and Society Committee held a memorial service on February 27, 2011, at Chungshan Presbyterian Church in Taipei to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the 228 Massacre. PCT Associate Secretary Lyim Hong-tiong spoke on the theme “We walk in God’s path because we believe in peace”.

According to Lyim, KMT must admit that former KMT Chairman Chiang Kai-shek was the chief culprit responsible for this tragedy, publicly acknowledge it as a massacre, and repent of its actions. Otherwise, PCT and other social organizations in search for the truth behind the 228 Massacre will not let up and will call on the Taiwanese government to pressure the KMT to reveal the truth.

“Without a prime culprit, forgiveness is impossible. We pray for courage to pursue justice and peace,” Lyim said. Alluding to writings of the prophet Micah, he added that Taiwanese people have never enjoyed the kind of peace Micah envisioned because the KMT has always depicted Chiang as a hero who stemmed an insurgency.

“According to KMT’s account of what happened on February 28, 1947, the people Chiang commanded to suppress was a “mob”. This is a great offence and humiliation to the families of 228 victims,” said Lyim.

Aborigines remember 228 Massacre

Among Aborigines, Atayal Presbytery held a remembrance service on February 25, 2011, at Pyasan Presbyterian Church. It invited the church’s honorary elder Atay Watan to tell her personal story as she is a survivor of the 228 Massacre.

According to Atay Watan, she was a student at National Taitung University (formerly known as Taiwan Provincial Taitung Teachers School) when police began arresting people. Upon hearing what had happened, Atay Watan left school and hurried home for she knew that police officers thought every Aborigine intellectual was a “communist bandit”.

Though she managed to get home safely, the police coerced her into writing a false confession and she was immediately blacklisted by the government. Her husband, a teacher at the time, was forced to relocate to another school in a remote rural area.

After this, Atay Watan and her husband were forced to live apart for the next 40 years because of government orders. Her husband was allowed to return home for visits but was only allowed to travel up to the inspection booth leading to his hometown where his wife would go out and meet with him.

Because of being labeled a “communist bandit” by government officials, no one in Atay Watan’s village dared to approach her. She said that, reflecting back, it was her faith in Jesus that helped her get through those difficult years.

According to Sangas Yumin, Atayal Presbytery Church and Society Committee Chairman, many Aborigine elders who were indoctrinated under the KMT regime after Chiang Kai-shek came to power in Taiwan still believe that speaking about the 228 Massacre is akin to inciting a rebellion. As result, many Aborigines don’t know arrests and massacres also took place in their own communities.

Many Aborigines today who were victims then have yet to come to terms with this tragedy in a public manner and it’s a regrettable situation. Atayal Presbytery hopes to focus its fall 2011 session on getting the “ROC” government to apologize and make amends to Aborigine victims of the 228 Massacre.

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