Jobs may be hard to find, unemployment is high and office workers have nothing but complaints, but public servants, military personnel and teachers still enjoy special benefits.
A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator yesterday presented evidence that, although the military is cutting back on personnel, its expenses are still increasing.
Much of this money was going to retired officers who, in addition to their pension, are rehired as office staff, giving them a monthly income in excess of NT$100,000 and creating a heavy burden on the government, DPP Legislator Tang Huo-sheng (
"A retired naval staff officer surnamed Wang with the rank of captain receives a pension of NT$68,000 and enjoys preferential savings interest rates of 18 percent. After retiring, he was re-employed in the Navy Logistics Command at a monthly salary of NT$53,220, giving him a monthly income of NT$118,332 or an annual income of NT$1,597,482," Tang said.
"It is no wonder the country is in financial difficulties," he said.
Between 1997 and 2001 the military reduced its fighting force from 450,000 to 380,000 people. This should have resulted in a significant reduction in personnel costs, but the figure actually rose from NT$123.7 billion in 1997 to NT$139.2 billion in 2001, Tang said.
"The most obvious increase is in monthly contract personnel," Tang said.
"In 1997 the cost for such staff was NT$4 billion, but by 2001 these costs had more than doubled to NT$9 billion," he said.
"After four years of streamlining the military, over half its budget is spent on personnel. This still accounts for 52 percent of expenditure. It's unbelievable," he said.
According to information obtained from the Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of National Defense, of the military's 120,000 monthly contract workers, 2,507 are retired officers. Of these, 1,261 are receiving double payments which cost the government NT$2 billion per year.
Tang said that, since contract workers did not deal with confidential or complex military matters, there was absolutely no reason why these jobs should be given to retired officers.
Many of these re-hired officers came from the navy, Tang said. He named two general officers, who, after retiring from a military research facility, were re-employed at the same facility in a senior civilian capacity, earing salaries of up to NT$140,000 a month.
Tang said that the legislature had called on the Executive Yuan to review the monthly contract jobs offered by the military with the aim of reducing them by a third, but that the military had ignored the request.
He said that after his disclosure of these numbers, the Ministry of National Defense refused to provide further information and he had to seek data from the Ministry of Civil Service.
"How does the way the military looks after its own make the 500,000 unemployed Taiwanese feel?" Tang asked.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS