Oct. 31, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, was "Double Nine" Festival -- a day to remember the elderly. Government agencies and non-governmental organizations across Taiwan were once again busy with the usual visits to centenarians, donating money, or handing out gifts of pots, bowls and basins. This is repeated every year.
Over the years, the government has treated senior citizens as if it is providing for them out of the kindness of its heart, failing to formulate any positive, creative or forward-looking policies for the elderly.
As Taiwan's society continues to age, the "senior citizen issue" has become a popular topic of discussion and policy suggestions and recommendations a popular pastime. The strange thing is that a prolonged life expectancy, once one of the most important indicators of an advanced nation, is now regarded as an omen of a serious social problem.
Since senior citizens are seen as a social problem, current policy -- whether in principle or in law -- is only intended to improve medical care and social welfare programs for the elderly and approaches the issue from a pathological perspective. This line of thinking also sees senior citizens as synonymous with disability, emaciation, poverty, illness, loneliness and death.
In today's society, "age" seems to have become the original sin, and "senior citizen" has become synonymous with "social problem." Although a social welfare policy that treats aging as a problem to be fixed may resolve some of the issues facing the elderly, it has also inadvertently created a bad impression of old people, who as a result may be forced to stop participating in public life, including such aspects as economic production, policy making and social participation, relegating them to some dark corner of society. Aging, therefore, has become a problem when hitherto there was none.
In the West, people have gradually awakened to the issue of age discrimination and the importance of having a full life in old age. The meaning of "senior citizens" has been redefined in many countries, and prejudice replaced with opportunity.
In recent years, policies toward the aged in the West have taken a turn toward social democracy. In the post-Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan era, free market policies have developed into the "third way" followed by former US president Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Blair has said his conception of society was that the state should not only provide services for senior citizens, but also confirm their value and laud their experience and contributions.
The "third way" concept regards old people as ordinary citizens. They are people just like everyone else, free to choose the lifestyle they want and participate in various aspects of social life. The point of a policy on the elderly is to create a favorable space with which senior citizens can identify, allowing them to live in a world of hope and dreams.
If the government really cares about the elderly, it should pass a law against age discrimination so that no one has to suffer from age-based language, work, learning, marriage, family or medical discrimination. The government should also seek to establish an obstacle-free living environment for the elderly by improving traffic, living conditions, roads and other facilities.
Finally, it should increase funds spent on research into the prevention of chronic diseases affecting the elderly, in particular high blood pressure, osteoporosis and similar conditions in order to build a society offering more opportunities for the elderly.
Chiou Tian-juh is a professor and chair of the Department of Social Psychology at Shih Hsin University. Translated by Daniel Cheng
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
The two major opposition parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), jointly announced on Tuesday last week that former TPP lawmaker Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) would be their joint candidate for Chiayi mayor, following polling conducted earlier this month. It is the first case of blue-white (KMT-TPP) cooperation in selecting a joint candidate under an agreement signed by their chairpersons last month. KMT and TPP supporters have blamed their 2024 presidential election loss on failing to decide on a joint candidate, which ended in a dramatic breakdown with participants pointing fingers, calling polls unfair, sobbing and walking
RSS