Monthly pension payments, national health insurance, an 18 percent interest rate: Describing this combination as “the best retirement system in the world” is a misnomer; it is not a retirement system — it is a tool to perpetuate class differences and oppress the public.
Commodity prices in Taiwan are lower than in Europe or North America. In terms of purchasing power, monthly retirement payments and national health insurance make military personnel, civil servants and teachers in Taiwan some of the most privileged groups in the world. The 18 percent interest rate is worth perhaps another NT$30,000 extra every month, which means a retired soldier, civil servant or teacher can earn anything from NT$60,000 to more than NT$100,000 per month. This is not retirement, it is an extortion racket.
A retired couple who bought their home a long time ago, whose children are now adults, and who can use the national health insurance in case of illness will not spend more than NT$20,000 to NT$30,000 a month on food, and pocket the remaining money. The 18 percent interest and the remaining retirement money will of course go to their children and grandchildren. That is why the children of military personnel, civil servants and teachers can study abroad, travel, accumulate wealth and buy a second home, all without having to work.
These pensioners live a leisurely life aimed at pursuing their own and their children and grandchildren’s interests. They have more time, energy and perseverance than anyone else when it comes to protecting the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) policies, economic interests and ideology.
It is hardly surprising that they are a willing part of the political apparatus that perpetuates the status of the KMT elite and its rule over Taiwan.
What is the difference between the people living off the 18 percent interest rate and the comfortable life that makes possible and the Mongolian rulers who were fed by the Chinese they also ruled?
We should feel sorry for all those poor people whose parents are not in the military or work as civil servants or teachers. Even if they’ve taken out a student loan to finish their university studies, they are still unlikely to earn more than NT$30,000 per month. They do not own their homes and although they earn less than half of what a retired soldier, civil servant or teacher receives, they have to pay rent and are expected to get married, have children and raise a family. Such people have problems making it from one day to the next and of course they have no time to pay attention to the public interest or politics. They must accept that they are typical examples of a ruled and oppressed class.
The way in which the KMT elite uses the perks it gives to military personnel, civil servants and teachers to economically suppress Taiwanese can only be described as the oppression of a whole nation. The proportion of ‘Mainlanders” that enjoy the 18 percent preferential interest rate is many times larger than the proportion of such people in the Hoklo, Hakka or Aboriginal ethnic groups. That is why the 18 percent preferential interest rate, in addition to consolidating the perpetuation of the ruling class, is also a way for that class and the KMT’s ruling clique to oppress everyone else.
The 18 percent interest rate is the perfect reason for a revolution. It is also the perfect reason to hold a referendum.
If the Democratic Progressive Party continues to do no more than talk about the “reform” of this system and pretends not to hear calls for abolition of the preferential interest rate, that would be reason enough to establish a new pro-Taiwan political party.
Lin Chia is an independent commentator.
TRANSLATED BY PERRY SVENSSON
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