Taipei City Government

Mayor Ko Wen-je attended the Memorial Service organized by the central government marking the 70th year since the 228 Incident. Dignitaries attending the event include President Tsai Ing-wen, Mayor Ko Wen-je, and surviving family members of victims.
During his address, the mayor noted that the public should adopt a positive attitude of recognizing a problem to solve it when facing this tragic history, avoiding a repeat of history in the future as well as creating more problems for each other.
Speaking to the audience amidst heavy rain, the mayor shed tears as he recounted his grandfather’s fate during the incident. He remarked that the event created much hardship for the victims’ families and silenced people’s voices in Taiwanese society for a long period. Even today, there are still gaping wounds within many people which have yet to be healed.
Even though the government invested much effort in restoring honors to a number of the victims and paying reparations, the historical conflict which “has only victims but no aggressors” is still unable to soothe the pain of victims and surviving family members.
Ko believes that the hatred should come to an end with this generation and help the surviving family members of victims assuage the painful memories. He also proposed to infuse 228 with a new meaning for future generation, making Taiwanese society more united and harmonious on this date. He recalled that he completed the 250 km bicycle ride on this day last year, hoping to encourage Taiwanese people to work together and resurrecting the spirit of the “seafarer” nation, emphasizing to the world the fearlessness of locals about taking on challenges.
At the end of his address, the mayor stressed that this is our common home and that Taiwanese should be the master of this land, where Taiwanese can decide their own fate and create a new world of fairness and justice. While we all have out different past, we can still work together to confront challenges and join hands to walk together to a new future.