In an abrupt change of policy, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration announced yesterday that it would increase the monthly subsidy for elderly farmers by NT$1,000 (US$33), abandoning the previously proposed NT$316 increase in the wake of criticism from across party lines.
The subsidy for farmers aged 65 and above will be increased from the current NT$6,000 a month to NT$7,000, which is what the Democratic Progressive Party caucus had initially proposed.
The increase will be adjusted every four years and the eight types of subsidies for the elderly, the disabled and low-income families will also be raised, with the increase ranging from 16.67 percent to 33.27 percent, according to the central government.
The change of heart came exactly one month after Ma said the monthly subsidy for farmers aged 65 and over would be increased by NT$316 to reflect the 5.27 percent average increase in the consumer price index over the past four years since the pension plan was last adjusted in 2007.
At the time, Ma defended the budget plan as a measure to prevent farmers from becoming targets for “political bidding” during election campaigns.
Ma yesterday acknowledged that the previous version had sparked accusations from various groups of insufficient assistance for farmers and other minority groups.
Ma said he decided to call for a meeting to discuss the issue on Thursday night after meeting with Taiwan Organization for Disadvantaged Patients secretary-general Yang Yu-hsing (楊玉欣) and other civic groups earlier that day to talk about subsidy programs for civic groups.
“They told me that many social welfare subsidies haven’t been adjusted for 10 to 18 years and suggested that the government should make up for the shortfall, so that the systemized subsidy programs would help more people, and they persuaded me of their case,” he said on the sidelines of a campaign event in Taipei City.
Ma promised to make the subsidy programs fair while systematizing them, and said the new version would help those who are really in need.
“Only by seeking fairness in the programs will discrimination be eliminated in society, and systematizing the subsidy programs will also prevent the payments from becoming a tool during election campaigns. The adjustment has been made under the same goals,” he added.
The meeting between Ma and Yang was arranged one day after the latter was nominated by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Wednesday as a legislator-at-large candidate amid the party’s efforts to accentuate minority issues.
Ma then held a closed-door meeting with Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), Cabinet officials and KMT officials on Thursday night to finalize the new version of the subsidy programs.
According to the proposed plan, the Council of Agriculture will spend an extra NT$8.24 billion in next year’s budget on farmers’ subsidies, while the total for the eight social welfare subsidies next year will be NT$12.3 billion.
The plan will still include an “anti-rich” clause, whereby applicants with an annual income of more than NT$500,000 from non-agricultural sources or who own non-agricultural real estate worth NT$5 million or more will not be eligible.
Many KMT lawmakers had warned Ma about the negative impact of the initial plan on the party’s odds in the upcoming elections and urged the president to increase the farmers’ subsidy by at least NT$1,000.
Asked about the reversal of position, Wu told reporters the initial increase calculated in accordance with the estimated 5.27 percent rise in consumer prices was “not good enough.”
In light of the fact that some pensions have not been adjusted for many years, the method of calculation “was not fair to social welfare recipients” and “failed to resonate powerfully with the public,” he said.
“We were truly haunted by the proposal of a NT$316 increase in farmers’ monthly pensions. It has become a populist issue, which was unavoidable because it was inconsistent with past practice of a NT$1,000 increase,” Wu said.
He said that the government’s “benign intention” to establish a formula for pension adjustment to depoliticize the issue had been “distorted.”
KMT lawmakers praised the policy change.
KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said his caucus would submit a new amendment to the legislature and facilitate deliberation, with an aim to put the new pension plan into effect on Jan. 1 next year.
KMT Legislator Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞), who had suggested raising the monthly subsidy to at least NT$7,500, said the new proposal was acceptable.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RSS