Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians yesterday played down comments by KMT official Chen Keng-chin (陳庚金), who called on public servants to “goof around as much as possible and milk their jobs for all they are worth” to “drag down the government.”
Chen, who heads the party’s Evaluation and Discipline Committee, on Wednesday told the general assembly of the Association of Retired Public Servants, Teachers, Military and Police of the Republic of China that “public officials, farmers, artisans and merchants” are essentially different and there is no possibility of “absolute equality” among them.
He compared the government’s pension reform to China under Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and called on the audience to “overthrow” a government that would “manufacture that kind of class struggle.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Chen said that as “actions speak louder than words, we should tell military personnel, public servants and teachers to stand with us and goof around as much as possible and milk their jobs for all they are worth.”
“Let’s drag down this government,” said Chen, a former presidential adviser and former head of the Personnel Administration Bureau.
KMT Vice Chairman and association chairman Jason Hu (胡志強) spoke after Chen, saying: “Our [former] presidential adviser’s words are impassioned and meaningful.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who is vying for the chairperson position, told the convention that if elected, he would follow the association’s lead to fight Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pension reforms.
Hau said yesterday that he did not hear Chen’s speech.
However, he said that the DPP administration’s policies — not just pension reform, but others such as labor reform and a proposal to lift restrictions on Japanese prefectures hit with a ban on importing foodstuffs after the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant — have stirred public discontent.
Hu wrote on Facebook that he “certainly does not support the idea of public servants goofing around,” and said that Chen was “joking.”
KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said he suspects that Chen’s remarks were “emotional words uttered off the top of his head.”
It was out of bitterness sparked by the government’s change of mind over paying pensions to retired officials as promised, Lin said.
However, public officials are bound by laws and would be fired if they “goof around” too much, Lin said, calling for rational discussion.
Chen and Hu are beneficiaries of the current pension system after their years of service with the KMT and as public officials, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said, adding that they will therefore be affected by pension reform.
Lee called on the KMT to propose its own pension reform plan before the legislature starts reviewing the government’s proposals.
The KMT could propose to keep pensions for retirees and cut benefits for public servants in the workforce today, or it could propose safeguarding the practice of combining service years at the KMT and government agencies and see if the people accept that, Lee said with apparent sarcasm.
Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang (黃重諺) said that the goal of pension reform is to guarantee that every Taiwanese can retire with financial security, while allowing the state’s limited resources to be fairly and sustainably distributed.
“I think [Chen’s] remarks are not worth commenting on,” Huang said.
“We are surprised that this kind of statement came from a senior former official who once headed the Department of Personnel Administration,” he said.
“No one would believe that Chen’s words represent military personnel, public servants and teachers who are diligently serving the country,” Huang said.
Additional reporting by Wang Jie, Tseng Wei-chen and CNA
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2