The League of Welfare Improvement for Older People yesterday held a summit where about 150 representatives from different cities proposed a white paper focusing on the government's policies for senior citizens.
The senior citizens said they would support the presidential candidate that accepted their white paper as his official campaign platform.
They also urged the government to accelerate an annuity plan to provide the elderly with economic security.
Director of Hung Tao Old People's Welfare Foundation Kuo Tong-yao (
"The government then needs to support these people and it has become a heavy financial burden for the government. Only by carrying out the annuity plan can the government's burden be relieved," Kuo said.
Secretary-General of the League of Welfare Improvement for Older People Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) said the government's pension plans were too chaotic, with different plans for farmers and fishermen, Aborigines and elderly people with a low income. They proposed to integrate these pensions into the white paper to ensure that the elderly enjoy the same pension benefits without regard of their ethnicity and professions.
"Moreover, welfare is mostly given only in cash and whenever it comes to election time, the candidates promise more cash without planning a comprehensive welfare system," Wu said.
The league said that the elderly should enjoy a dignified, independent life. They should be able to live in a society that does not discriminate against age.
The groups have made suggestions for policies regarding nine aspects of the white paper, including issues such as economic security, medicine and health.
They also decided to pressure the presidential candidates to take the elderly's issues seriously, and to demand the government to formulate its draft for an "old people welfare law."
Wu said the league would pay official visits to the presidential candidates to express their wishes after campaign headquarters are set up.
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Deputy Minister of Interior Hsu Yin-shen (許應琛) were present at the opening ceremony. At the closing ceremony, Democratic Progressive Party Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator and director of the policy committee Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) both promised to take the white paper for further discussion within their parties.
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