Two newly passed amendments that would allow directors of farmers and fishermen' associations to stay in their posts indefinitely have shown that the organizations -- meant to be dedicated to the service of farmers and fishermen -- still have strong political overtones.
"I actually disapprove of the changes contained in the two amendments because they are regressive policies," a member of a farmers' association in Taipei County told the Taipei Times on the sidelines of a meeting on Friday.
He gave his surname as Lin, but refused to reveal which association he works for because his view differs from that of his director.
The amendments canceled the three-term limits for the associations' directors and lowered the requirement for renewal of their employment.
The meeting, attended by approximately 200 directors of the associations across the country, was called by a group of pan-blue lawmakers in a bid to discourage the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) plan to reconsider the approved bills.
Hsiao Han-chun (
"A professor can teach in a college for 20 to 30 years, and a manager can run a company for a long time if they do their job well. Why can't we have an indefinite term?" Hsiao said.
Upon hearing what Hsiao said, Lin said that "if [Hsiao's] analogy is right, then what's the point of the Constitution setting term limits for the president?"
In accordance with the Farmers' Association Law (農會法) and the Fishermen's Association Law (漁會法), association directors have a major say in personnel appointments and managing the associations' business activities, including economic assistance, credit and insurance services.
Under the old law, the directors may have their term of office extended once. To qualify for a second renewal, they would have to earn a performance rating of "excellent." This requirement has been lowered to a rating of "good" -- the second-highest level in a scale of five -- under the amendment.
The previous law also stipulated that association staffers who have been indicted and convicted during a second trial should be fired from their posts. This has been changed to not relieving association staffers who are standing trial until a final verdict is rendered.
"As a result of the revisions, about 90 percent of directors who earned ratings of `good' would be able to hold on their position in the association indefinitely," said Woo Rhung-jieh (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, who strongly supported the amendments, had argued that the bills aim to retain valuable talent in the associations.
The DPP, however, said that the KMT was only interested in raising its electoral profile at the expense of farmers' and fishermen's interests.
"I couldn't agree with the DPP more. It's not an exaggeration to say that the ratio of KMT supporters to DPP supporters within the associations is nine to one," Lin said.
Commenting on the link between the associations and the KMT, Tsai Hong-chin (蔡宏進), a professor at Asia University, said that the relationship had its roots in more than 50 years of KMT rule.
Under the law, the associations are classified as civic organizations that assume sole responsibility for their profits and losses.
Despite the regulations, the main source of their funding is the government while they assist the government in implementing its agricultural policies, Tsai said.
"Before financial liberalization [beginning in the 1980s], the associations derived most of their funding through deposit taking and extending agricultural loans, but their credit business has declined [after the liberalization]," he said.
The personal connections built through these credit departments, however, remain a strong political force, as evidenced by an organized protest on Nov. 23, 2002, against the government's financial reform plan that would take over the credit departments of the 36 associations.
The protest, led by the Taiwan Provincial Farmers' Association, fishermen's associations and pan-blue politicians, drew more than 100,000 people.
"The take-over plan was proposed to resolve [the associations' credit departments'] bad-loan problems. Instead of being hailed, it incurred opposition from the directors of the associations and the pan-blue camp, reflecting the fact that their interests were closely linked to the credit departments," Woo said.
To make the associations more "neutral" on politics, Woo suggested that the associations be transformed into cooperatives, with their funding coming frommembers, who would also directly elect the directors.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS