Thousands of Taiwanese teachers took to the streets yesterday demanding an apology from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for planned pension cuts, organizers said.
Many of the protesters -- wearing yellow headbands and waving banners -- sat on the wide boulevard outside the Presidential Office.
The National Teachers' Association, which organized the protest, said abolishing the benefits amounted to a form of class struggle that would aggravate conflicts between different groups.
"Apologize!" shouted the protesters, holding placards which read "Oppose hatred" and "Demand unions."
"We demand President Chen apologize and Minister of Civil Service Chu Wu-hsien [
The government last month decided to abolish a special retirement benefit program for teachers, military personnel and civil servants.
The program's key element was an 18 percent interest rate on savings, which Chen said unfairly benefited retired teachers, soldiers and civil servants at other groups' expense.
In response, Chu yesterday said the government remained determined to carry out the new pension rule, but that some of the details of the plan could be discussed.
"I would even bet my own political career on endorsing this new policy," Chu said.
The minister said that the old 18 percent special interest rate was unreasonable and needed to be fixed.
He said he would work to overcome all difficulties to implement the new rule.
But he also said that some of the details could be discussed or worked out before the new pension rule was actually carried out.
The regulation is scheduled to come into effect on Dec. 16.
"Our determination to carry it out will not change even though thousands of teachers came to rally in front of the Presidential Office today [yesterday]," Chu said.
The minister said he was sorry that the regulation had become a political issue, because initially it had nothing to do with politics.
The idea to fix the pension rule was first proposed by the Control Yuan in 2001, he said.
The ministry eventually came up with a rough plan and submitted it to its supervisor, the Examination Yuan, in July.
However, after the president announced in his Double Tenth Day speech this year that one of his priority goals would be to fix the pension rule before the end of this year, the issue became politicized, he said.
"We have elections almost every year. Does that mean we have to postpone this new rule all the time to avoid being taken advantage of by politicians?" Chu said.
"I think it is quite clear whether the old rule was reasonable and needed to be fixed. We just decided not to wait any longer," he said.
Although Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had announced that the new rule would become effective on Dec. 16, Chu said there is no guarantee of that deadline because neither the Ministry of Education nor the Ministry of National Defense had yet replied with their confirmations.
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