The backlash from pension reforms would benefit the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections, KMT campaigners said.
As the controversial military pension reform bill, which has sparked prolonged protests, is being reviewed at a provisional session of the Legislative Yuan, pension cuts for public-school teachers and civil servants are scheduled to take effect on July 1.
Many retired military personnel, public-school teachers and civil servants are KMT members or traditional supporters of the party, KMT Organizational Development Committee director Lee Che-hua (李哲華) said.
Ahead of the 2014 and 2016 elections, then-president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration proposed canceling year-end bonuses for retired military personnel, public-school teachers and civil servants, and many such supporters were unwilling to come out to vote, Lee said.
Many KMT candidates received fewer votes than in previous elections and some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidates won without increasing their votes, he said.
“The effect of the pension reform that the DPP is pushing is bound to be greater than that of the year-end bonus cancelations,” he added.
The effect would be greater in cities and counties where the groups make up more of the population, such as the central and southern regions, the outlying islands and rural areas, an unnamed KTM campaigner said on Sunday.
Penghu County, which elected the DPP’s Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復) as commissioner in 2014, is one of the localities that could be swayed to vote for the KMT this year because of the pension reform, the source said.
The cancellation of year-end bonuses by the Ma government and low voter turnout among the groups were crucial to the KMT’s weak performance in the 2014 nine-in-one elections and 2016 general and presidential elections, KMT Yunlin County commissioner candidate Chang Li-shan (張麗善) said.
However, the scope of the DPP government’s pension reforms is much larger, she said, adding that many people would immediately face difficulties as a result of the reforms.
Meanwhile, as retired public-school teachers and civil servants begin receiving notices of recalculations of their pensions that are to take effect next month, many are reportedly filing appeals and applying for other administrative remedies.
The Ministry of Civil Service this month began mailing notices of pension recalculations and many people have reported that the cut they are taking is more than the government had promised, Lee said.
The KMT’s Yunlin chapter has over the past two days been overrun by people seeking assistance with appeals, he said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS