The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had its annual Lunar New Year meeting on Thursday. Foremost on the agenda was the May 20 party chairperson election.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was joined by many of the candidates, including KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌).
Hau criticized the government’s pension reform proposals, accusing the Democratic Progressive Party of “manipulating the issue” and of expecting policymakers to calculate how much the older generation — who have already made their contribution — should receive in their retirement. He also recommended that the KMT host an alternative national affairs conference on pension reform to draft its own proposal.
Hau was speaking to his own constituency, for both the valuable optics and his campaign. Neither his criticisms nor his recommendations needed to stand up to much scrutiny. Which is good, because they do not.
First, the KMT has been manipulating the issue for years, because it has been in the party’s best interests. It has continued to offer cast-iron perks to state-sector employees — military personnel, civil servants and state-sector teaching staff — in a cynical attempt to secure their support at the ballot box.
These perks were justified in the 1960s, when these workers were receiving lower salaries on average, but times have changed.
There have long been warnings about the impending bankruptcy of the pension fund from politicians, political commentators and academics. Ma’s administration was aware of it and held public hearings and countless seminars on the issue. The adage that knowing a problem exists is half the cure is only true if action is taken.
“Society’s resources were created and have been accumulated by the older generation. They are old and have made their contribution and now we are told that we have to calculate how much we are willing to pay for their care,” Hau said.
The government has been forced to consider drastic measures and within a sufficiently truncated timeframe, because of previous administrations’ cynical prevarication. The KMT has exacerbated this by mismanaging the funds.
The KMT should call an alternative national policy conference to allow the “silent majority” to speak, Hau said.
The government’s national policy conference met on Jan. 21 and 22, following four nationwide public hearings; tense affairs that led to little consensus.
A KMT-run alternative conference is unlikely to lead to reasoned debate on the issue.
It would be far better to do what an opposition party in a healthy democracy is supposed to do: engage the government in reasoned debate, scrutinize the proposed policy and iron out the details to ensure the best possible approach is taken for the good of the nation, not the party.
Finally, Hau said that he was concerned that the government’s proposal would be sent to the Legislative Yuan next month, so “not a minute should be lost in creating an alternative proposal,” citing the party’s own think tank, former officials, experts and academics, legislative caucus and grassroots local government council members as resources, as if pension reform were not a hugely complicated issue requiring transparent, rational debate and complex calculations involving a non-partisan approach.
Is Hau aware of the gravity of this issue or is he really offering this approach as a recommendation for his chairmanship?
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