The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday began the 100-hour countdown to its “Fury” (火大) mass rally on Sunday against President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, while the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) pledged its support to the protest and called for people to participate.
Speaking at a press conference, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) reiterated the party’s three demands to the government: a Cabinet reshuffle, a rejection of the controversial Next Media Group (壹傳媒集團) deal and a national affairs conference, saying that “only a mass protest can awaken the paralyzed Ma administration.”
Ma has pledged to reform the pension and bonus systems, but the reforms have only been half accomplished, Su said. The chairman said the government had slashed bonuses for government officials and employees of state-owned enterprises, as well as cut the year-end bonuses for retired civil servants, but the cuts were only valid for one year. He added that the government had only partially supported the movement against media monopolization.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said the public has no choice but to take to the streets because they have suffered far too long and not seen any hope.
“If the people’s willpower was strong enough, the protest will not be the end, but the beginning of a stronger opposition in the future, which may including a movement to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers,” Hsieh said.
The DPP is expecting a crowd of more than 100,000 for the protest, which is to begin at Taipei’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on Sunday afternoon and assemble in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard at about 5pm before culminating in an evening rally.
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said mobilization efforts for the rally have been so successful that party staff in central and southern Taiwan are having problems finding enough buses to transport supporters to Taipei.
“The weather is our biggest concern. According to meteorological forecasts, it could rain on Sunday and the temperature could be as low as 13oC,” Lin said.
Also at the press conference, TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) said his party has launched a petition to recall Ma and is mulling launching similar petitions to recall the KMT legislators.
Separately, the TSU said that if Ma does not reshuffle the Cabinet, reject the Next Media deal and suspend the 18 percent preferential interest rates for civil servants, it would boycott the budget for the central government in the legislature.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS