The pan-blue and pan-green legislative caucuses yesterday threw their backing behind a proposal to review a code regulating pension payments to former presidents and vice presidents.
"It is appropriate to re-examine the payments and special treatment given to former presidents and vice presidents," said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip William Lai (賴清德). "The direction corresponds to the course of the party's reform campaign."
Lai said that he expects to see his caucus reach a consensus over the issue during today's caucus meeting.
Lai made the remarks in response to a proposal made by DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) on Wednesday to revise the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment to Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) to abolish or lower the stipends paid to former leaders.
According to Lin, former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) is the richest retired civil servant in the country. The KMT's former chairman makes about NT$240,000 (US$7,145) a month on top of NT$220,000 in bank interest from the preferential interest rate given to civil servants.
Both Lin and Lai, however, dismissed the speculation that the proposal is targeted at a particular person or party because if it gets the nod from the legislature, it would affect both retired and incumbent presidents and vice presidents no matter what their party.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) caucus, the DPP's ally, fully supported Lin's proposal, saying that such a revision would correspond with the general public's expectations and social justice.
"We recognize the reform course the DPP is taking," said TSU caucus whip Mark Ho (何敏豪). "We will give the DPP's proposal our endorsement if it launches a signature campaign and do not rule out the possibility of filing a petition ourselves if no other caucus takes the initiative."
While some have voiced concern over the funds former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) would get if the proposal becomes law, Ho dismissed such concerns as "short-sighted."
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) said that everything is negotiable if the revised system is legalized.
"At the moment, the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment to Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents does deserve an overhaul and the party is studying the issue and will soon present our version," Pan said.
The People First Party (PFP) caucus yesterday also gave their backing, saying that it will propose its own draft in the near future.
"We made a similar proposal on numerous occasions during the last legislative term but unfortunately failed to receive the support of the other caucuses," said PFP caucus whip Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交). "We are happy to see the other caucuses finally realize the problem."
PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) proposed making President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) paid adviser and policy counselor posts into unpaid positions.
If the idea is approved by the legislature, Lin estimated it would save the state coffers about NT$131 million a year. Lin said that she hopes to see the revamped legislation take effect next May.
The president currently has a total of 12 political advisers who are paid, 12 more who are unpaid, 27 paid policy counselors and 48 unpaid. The tenure for each position is one year.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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