Facing financial problems because of the global economic recession, civic groups yesterday urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to keep his promise to donate his consumer vouchers to welfare groups, in the hope that more people would follow suit.
When Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) announced last week that NT$3,660 in consumer vouchers would be distributed to the public before the Lunar New Year holiday starts on Jan. 24, Ma immediately said he would donate his vouchers to charity groups.
However, when some academics questioned how the distribution of vouchers would stimulate the economy by boosting consumption if many people decided to donate them, Ma changed his mind and said on Wednesday that he would use the vouchers to buy produce and donate a cash equivalent to charity groups.
PHOTO: CNA
Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲), secretary-general of the Alliance for Handicapped People, said that consumer vouchers donated to welfare groups would still stimulate consumption.
“When we receive those vouchers as a donation, we can’t just lock them up in a safe, we’ll still have to spend them,” Wang said.
Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴), secretary-general of the Alliance for Old People’s Welfare Promotion, agreed.
“Some people don’t need the extra NT$3,600, while others are in desperate need. Welfare groups can act as the platform by which people are able to help those in need,” Wu said.
Taiwan Fund for Children and Family executive director Miguel Wang (王明仁) said that donations to the group had fallen by almost 20 percent this year.
“The number of people sponsoring a child has also fallen — many people have called us and said that they can no longer sponsor children at our shelters because they’ve been laid off,” he said.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday that Ma would spend his vouchers, but would also donate cash to civic groups.
When asked how much Ma intended to donate, Wang said the amount would be at least 10 times the value of the vouchers. He said Ma had not yet decided whether the donation would come from his own pocket or from the president’s discretionary fund. Ma would decide on that by Jan. 18, when the vouchers are scheduled to be issued, Wang said.
Wang said Ma has used the president’s discretionary fund to buy items that he would give away as gifts and his own money on items that were for his personal use.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS