After the public anger over the high remuneration given to senior management at Shin Shin Natural Gas, implicated in the recent gas explosion in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), the Council of Agriculture is perpetuating the institution of “fat cat postings.”
A recently retired council official was given the position of president of the Agricultural Technology Research Institute, with a monthly salary of more than NT$188,000 (US$6,270), which is close to what a Cabinet minister is paid.
This has the public wondering whether the institute is needed at all and if the official in question was the only possible candidate for the job. The council must account for itself and allow an investigation into the matter, while legislators, as elected representatives of the public, should keep tighter control of the public purse and not let taxpayers’ money be wasted so flagrantly.
Neither should the public, as taxpayers, tolerate the perpetuation of these postings as they waste its hard-earned money.
It has happening for a long time: Whether it is the Democratic Progressive Party or the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in power, these fat cat dens have only proliferated. After the initial burp of indignation it is business as usual. The postings are mostly doled out as rewards. On top of a high salary, these positions often come with a car, a driver and an expense account, and are generally more cushy than other public institution positions.
So why would someone already in one of these positions, thinking of their own good, jeopardize all this? All they need do is play the game.
If the expertise of these officials is so outstanding and indispensable to the government, then why does it not put it to good use, rather than so readily allowing them to retire and shift over to a comfortable fat cat posting in which to prepare for their dotage. What a terrible waste of talent. As the saying goes, it is easy to find foot soldiers, but good generals are hard to come by. The level of public discontent at how the government handled foot-and-mouth disease, avian flu and US pork imports speaks volumes.
Overseas, when officials retire, they retire. Not so in Taiwan today. Officials are addicted to being in a position of power; they would be at a total loss if they retired for real. We see these officials lamenting their own lot, while being completely indifferent to the plight of ordinary people. They are preoccupied with pandering to their superiors needs so as not to put their own jobs at risk and to ensure they pave the way for life after they leave.
It is no wonder that the public is none too impressed with officials today and looks back fondly on the days when government officials who took on important roles were satisfied with living in simple retirement, showing far more integrity than the fat cats of today.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), embarking on a program of political reform, has cut the salaries of such officials in state-owned companies by a third, and mandated that these salaries cannot exceed 600,000 yuan (US$97,600). Government officials are also encouraged to retire completely. China is doing this, while here in Taiwan government debt is more than NT$24 trillion, a debt that will be passed on to the next generation and the generation after that.
The fat cats must be rooted out, but reform is not easy, nor will it be handed on a plate. If the public wants top get rid of these parasites, it has to make its voice heard and stop entertaining any extravagant ideas about government officials risking their own shot at the Holy Grail.
Du Yu is chief executive officer of the Chen-Li Task Force for Agricultural Reform.
Translated by Paul Cooper
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has offered Taiwan a paradoxical mix of reassurance and risk. Trump’s visceral hostility toward China could reinforce deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. Yet his disdain for alliances and penchant for transactional bargaining threaten to erode what Taiwan needs most: a reliable US commitment. Taiwan’s security depends less on US power than on US reliability, but Trump is undermining the latter. Deterrence without credibility is a hollow shield. Trump’s China policy in his second term has oscillated wildly between confrontation and conciliation. One day, he threatens Beijing with “massive” tariffs and calls China America’s “greatest geopolitical
On Sunday, 13 new urgent care centers (UCC) officially began operations across the six special municipalities. The purpose of the centers — which are open from 8am to midnight on Sundays and national holidays — is to reduce congestion in hospital emergency rooms, especially during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year. It remains to be seen how effective these centers would be. For one, it is difficult for people to judge for themselves whether their condition warrants visiting a major hospital or a UCC — long-term public education and health promotions are necessary. Second, many emergency departments acknowledge
US President Donald Trump’s seemingly throwaway “Taiwan is Taiwan” statement has been appearing in headlines all over the media. Although it appears to have been made in passing, the comment nevertheless reveals something about Trump’s views and his understanding of Taiwan’s situation. In line with the Taiwan Relations Act, the US and Taiwan enjoy unofficial, but close economic, cultural and national defense ties. They lack official diplomatic relations, but maintain a partnership based on shared democratic values and strategic alignment. Excluding China, Taiwan maintains a level of diplomatic relations, official or otherwise, with many nations worldwide. It can be said that
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) made the astonishing assertion during an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, published on Friday last week, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a dictator. She also essentially absolved Putin of blame for initiating the war in Ukraine. Commentators have since listed the reasons that Cheng’s assertion was not only absurd, but bordered on dangerous. Her claim is certainly absurd to the extent that there is no need to discuss the substance of it: It would be far more useful to assess what drove her to make the point and stick so
RSS