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

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

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“massacre” in the 1996 document has been replaced by words such as “restoring 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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