With less than two months to go until the nine-in-one elections, close public scrutiny is needed on how various government officials and agencies conduct themselves and whether they — intentionally or unintentionally — abuse administrative power for partisan gain.
Among recent incidents that have raised eyebrows is the Executive Yuan’s announcement that it is to relax eligibility requirements for retired civil servants who qualify for year-end bonuses. Currently, the government limits the bonuses to retirees who receive a monthly pension of less than NT$20,000 (US$657). However, according to the Executive Yuan’s latest plan, starting next year the cap will be raised to NT$25,000, which would benefit more, but also add NT$1.5 billion to national expenditures.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) has dismissed accusations that the policy change is an attempt to attract votes for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the run-up to the Nov. 29 elections. Insisting that it has nothing to do with the elections, he said it is only meant to better care for disadvantaged people.
Unfortunately, Jiang’s explanation is anything but convincing.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has made almost no progress despite Ma’s pledges of pension reforms. The only small advance it managed was the announcement in 2012 by then-premier Sean Chen (陳?) that, following a public outcry, bonuses should only be given to retired military personnel, civil servants, public-school teachers and employees of state-owned enterprises who receive a monthly pension of less than NT$20,000.
The scheme took effect at the end of that year, but only two years in, the administration is changing the rules again. The timing is dubious, considering this is an election year. If the government thinks that people living on NT$25,000 a month are “disadvantaged,” what about workers who have to make do with NT$22,000 as a starting salary? Why the discriminatory treatment for private-sector workers and preferential treatment for public-sector retirees?
Even more suspicious is that the policy’s announcement coincided with KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s (連勝文) pledge to fight for the relaxation of pension eligibility criteria for retired public workers.
Then there was the incident involving Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) of the KMT, who was suspended from office in November 2012 after being indicted on corruption and other charges. The Ministry of the Interior in April last year rejected his appeal to get his job back and again in April after Lee filed a second application to be reinstated.
However, after Lee’s wife, Chien Su-tuan (簡素端), on Sept. 10 announced her decision not to run in the Nantou County commissioner election, the Executive Yuan’s Petitions and Appeals Committee revoked the ministry’s decision. The move prompted speculation over whether some sort of “exchange” was arranged in which Chien willingly dropped out of the race to avoid a possible split in the county’s pan-blue camp ahead of the elections.
Another case that has raised questions about administrative neutrality involves KMT Yilan County Commissioner Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞), who is also the director-general of the Health Promotion Administration. The agency spent NT$4 million on an advertisement that featured her face alone, leaving many wondering whether it was a campaign strategy to promote Chiou’s visibility among voters.
With the elections approaching, the issue of administrative neutrality is proving to be increasingly pertinent. It is imperative for members of the public to keep a close eye on the government to keep it in check, to make sure the principle of impartiality is upheld, and that a clear distinction between party politics and the state apparatus is maintained and not exploited or manipulated for partisan gains.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to China provides a pertinent reminder of why Taiwanese protested so vociferously against attempts to force through the cross-strait service trade agreement in 2014 and why, since Ma’s presidential election win in 2012, they have not voted in another Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate. While the nation narrowly avoided tragedy — the treaty would have put Taiwan on the path toward the demobilization of its democracy, which Courtney Donovan Smith wrote about in the Taipei Times in “With the Sunflower movement Taiwan dodged a bullet” — Ma’s political swansong in China, which included fawning dithyrambs