The sufferings of Taiwan's farmers and fishermen did not begin today, but these good people are often misled and abused by those with ulterior motives. Government reforms of the credit departments of farmers' and fishermen's associations have been criticized as a plan to annihilate them. This misunderstanding has driven President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) government into a corner, prompting a number of Cabinet ministers to tender their resignations.
Taiwan's farmers and fishermen deserve respect and gratitude for their past contribution to Taiwan's economy. However, the difficulties they face today are a result of government policies that overemphasized industry at the expense of the agricultural sector. Another factor was the KMT's practice of gaining control over the associations by manipulating their board elections and appointment of executives. Most of these KMT-cultivated cadres hail from local factions and gangs.
The KMT turned a blind eye to their abuses of power -- such as lending to their cronies without sufficient collateral -- because these cadres campaigned for the KMT during elections. This has led to today's high non-performing loans (NPLs) ratios at these grassroots credit units -- far higher than the overall average in Taiwan's financial industry. These institutions are losing at least NT$10 billion a year due to corruption by board members and managers.
Faced with this, the government needs to adopt heavy-handed measures to implement reform and to stop people sucking dry the farmers' and fishermen's savings. However, the government has obviously underestimated the power of a counterattack by corrupt forces among the normally oppressed farmers and fishermen, with assistance from ambitious politicians. Because these politicians are controlling all the farmers' and fishermen's organizations, they know how to use the latent dissatisfaction to add fuel to the fire, saying that the government -- by taking over the management of credit units with excessive NPL-ratios -- is aiming to terminate all 344 farmers' and fishermen's associations. By doing this, these politicians have awoken deep-seated fears among the farming and fishing population that they will not be able to find credit in the future and that this will have a serious impact on their livelihood. This is why they are participating in the demonstrations and protests to such a degree.
We should severely condemn the politicians who hide behind the scenes and their parties to engage in political wrangling at the cost of social stability. Their target is nothing less than the presidential elections, more than one year away. Some of them are also trying to pave the way for their party candidates in the fight against the DPP candidates in the upcoming mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
Some have pointed out that about 300,000 farmers and fishermen originally planned to participate in the protest -- the biggest of its kind in Taiwan's history. More than 100,000 showed up yesterday, and if each of them spent NT$1,000, the cost of the protest would be about NT$100 million. At a time when both farmers' and fishermen's associations are complaining about their financial difficulties, where did such a large sum of money come from?
While the helplessness of the local farmers and fishermen who protested on the streets is understandable, it is unacceptable for any political parties or politicians to use the issue to their own political advantage. Politicians should let them air their grievances -- not distort the development of Taiwan's democratic politics.
Speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on May 13, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that democracies must remain united and that “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism.” Earlier that day, Tsai had met with a group of Danish parliamentarians led by Danish Parliament Speaker Pia Kjaersgaard, who has visited Taiwan many times, most recently in November last year, when she met with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office. Kjaersgaard had told Lai: “I can assure you that ... you can count on us. You can count on our support
Denmark has consistently defended Greenland in light of US President Donald Trump’s interests and has provided unwavering support to Ukraine during its war with Russia. Denmark can be proud of its clear support for peoples’ democratic right to determine their own future. However, this democratic ideal completely falls apart when it comes to Taiwan — and it raises important questions about Denmark’s commitment to supporting democracies. Taiwan lives under daily military threats from China, which seeks to take over Taiwan, by force if necessary — an annexation that only a very small minority in Taiwan supports. Denmark has given China a
Many local news media over the past week have reported on Internet personality Holger Chen’s (陳之漢) first visit to China between Tuesday last week and yesterday, as remarks he made during a live stream have sparked wide discussions and strong criticism across the Taiwan Strait. Chen, better known as Kuan Chang (館長), is a former gang member turned fitness celebrity and businessman. He is known for his live streams, which are full of foul-mouthed and hypermasculine commentary. He had previously spoken out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and criticized Taiwanese who “enjoy the freedom in Taiwan, but want China’s money”
A high-school student surnamed Yang (楊) gained admissions to several prestigious medical schools recently. However, when Yang shared his “learning portfolio” on social media, he was caught exaggerating and even falsifying content, and his admissions were revoked. Now he has to take the “advanced subjects test” scheduled for next month. With his outstanding performance in the general scholastic ability test (GSAT), Yang successfully gained admissions to five prestigious medical schools. However, his university dreams have now been frustrated by the “flaws” in his learning portfolio. This is a wake-up call not only for students, but also teachers. Yang did make a big
RSS