The government’s latest change of heart to increase the monthly subsidy for elderly farmers was criticized by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday as a decision based on electoral concerns.
“The president’s policy should be based on his sympathy for what people are going through, not because of declines in his campaign polls,” Tsai, the DPP’s presidential candidate, said at a press conference, referring to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) falling electoral support rates in local media polls.
Contrary to the announcement made by Ma on Oct.18 that the government would increase elderly farmers’ monthly NT$6,000 subsidy by NT$316 to reflect the 5.27 percent average increase in the consumer price index (CPI), Ma at a meeting late on Thursday agreed to raise the stipend to NT$7,000.
Saying that the DPP caucus had long proposed increasing the subsidy by NT$1,000, while the government insisted on the NT$316 increase, Tsai said the government’s latest policy reversal proved that “the KMT government is full of civil and military officials, but none of them know about people’s pains.”
“The government’s vacillating stance makes it hard for the people to trust it,” she added.
Meanwhile, at a separate setting yesterday, Taiwan Rural Front spokeswoman Tsai Pei-huei (蔡培慧) said the government must stop its strategy of agreeing to a NT$1,000 increase for farmers’ pensions, but ignoring demands from farmers and non-governmental organizations for a better land expropriation system.
“What can farmers do without their farmland?” Tsai Pei-huei said.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
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