Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) A series of ceremonies, exhibitions and concerts are being held across Taiwan and a Hollywood movie is being screened in the U.S. over the weekend to commemorate the 228 Incident, an anti-government uprising on Feb. 28, 1947 that was violently suppressed by the military and government at the time.
The incident, in which the beating of a Taiwanese woman selling unlicensed cigarettes by then-ruling Kuomintang (KMT) police led to rioting that spread across the island and was brutally crushed by KMT troops sent over from China.
It marked the start of the KMT's infamous "White Terror" purge of "dissidents, " which is considered one of the darkest periods in modern Taiwan history. People suspected of being anti-government were jailed and many of them died or disappeared, with no explanations given to their families.
On Sunday, President Ma Ying-jeou will attend an annual ceremony, with a theme of "remember the past, embrace the future, " organized by the government in southern Tainan city, while local groups will also organize various events in Taiwan's major cities.
In the United States, a film about the assassination of a Taiwanese-American in the United States in 1983, during Taiwan's martial law period, is being screened this weekend across America. The film "Formosa Betrayed, " a political thriller, takes its title from abook published in 1965 by former U.S. Consul George Kerr, who documented his observation of the incident.
It is produced by second-generation Taiwanese-American Will Tiao and directed by Adam Kane.
Discussion about the 228 Incident is no longer a taboo, which had been the case during the 38 years (1949-1987) of martial law in Taiwan, although it is sometimes seen as a tool for political mobilization and a topic that could destabilize ethnic harmony between longtime Taiwanese residents and people who immigrated to the island from China in the late 1940s.
President Ma as well as former presidents Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian have all offered government apologies over that period of history in official settings. More than a dozen memorial monuments to commemorate the victims of the 228 Incident have been erected around the island. One of them, the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, was established in the 228 Memorial Park, which was renamed by then-Taipei Mayor Chen Shui-bian in 1996.
Taiwan's Executive Yuan or Cabinet designated Feb. 28 a national holiday in 1997 and completed a full investigation report of the incident in 2003.
"Only when we can face historical truths squarely, without any cover-ups, will we strike the right attitude," President Ma said last November in a ceremony to mark the integration of the planned memorial hall and the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum.
However, there are still controversies surrounding the incident.
Death counts in the incidents ranged from less than 1,000 to "somewhere between 18,000-28,000, " as stated in the Executive Yuan's report. Some victims and families of victims disagree on the amount of compensation offered from the government as well as whether Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was the person responsible for ordering the brutal killings.
Almost 63 years after the incident, a class action suit was filed Friday against the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) by 33 victims and 75 relatives of victims, who demanded that the KMT pay NT$2 billion for the construction and future operations of a National Taiwan 228 Memorial Museum. The group also demanded the KMT - the ruling party at the time - apologize.
Wellington Koo, an attorney representing the 228 Incident victims in the case, said that although the government has made Feb. 28 a national holiday and paid compensation to families, the truth has not been fully revealed and some murderers have yet to be prosecuted.