JUST A NUMBER: With the passage of time people are able to assess right from wrong, Ma Ying-jeou said, acknowledging that the massacre was traumatizing for Taiwanese
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 01, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he hopes that continued efforts
Former president Ma Ying-jeou shows the message that he left on a card during a visit to a special exhibition — “228 and I” — at the 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei’s 228 Memorial Park yesterday. Photo: CNA
would be made to uncover the truth behind the 228 Massacre, as there is insufficient evidence that former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was the mastermind.
Ma made the remarks during a visit to a temple near the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei with Hsu Kuang (徐光), the daughter of 228 victim Hsu Cheng (徐征), a teacher of Mandarin who was taken from his home in March 1947 and never heard from again.
Although official records put the number of deaths and missing persons from the time of the massacre at only 865 — a far cry from the tens of thousands of victims estimated by some historians — what matters is not the number, but rather that the Incident caused Taiwanese tremendous trauma, Ma said.
The government has paid nearly NT$7.2 billion (US$246 million at the current exchange rate) in compensation to the families of 228 victims, which is a worthwhile expenditure, he said. [FULL STORY]