Hong Kong mothers are proof of the saying that being a mother makes a woman strong.
Protests about a bill that would allow extradition from Hong Kong to China have been going on for several months. Four young Hong Kongers have sacrificed their precious lives for the cause.
In a television interview recorded before their deaths, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) characterized herself as a “Hong Kong mother.”
HONG KONG MOTHERS
As well as drawing a torrent of “dislikes” from young people, Lam’s comment also drew the ire of many Hong Kong mothers.
On July 5, about 8,000 Hong Kong mothers took part in a rally in support of a campaign against extraditions to China.
Hong Kong’s Post 852 news Web site reported that the rally began with the reading of a declaration, followed by statements of praise for the young people’s pursuit of justice and a minute’s silence for those who had lost their lives.
The mothers showed their love and concern for their sons and daughters, encouraging the protesters while at the same time saying “no” to the Hong Kong government and calling on it to quickly respond to the protesters’ five major demands.
The Hong Kong mothers’ actions should make former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and others like him hang their heads in shame.
Ma, who says he was born in Hong Kong, said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is in no position to criticize the Hong Kong government because she is worse than it is.
Meanwhile, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) won the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary with a very high public opinion survey score. Emboldened by this result, Han’s fans have become even more brazen than before, going all over Taiwan and bullying anyone with a different opinion.
Interestingly, though, there is a crisis hidden behind the poll figures.
HAN FORCE
Analysts say that Han is mostly supported by people over 50, with the majority of his supporters being women. The prevalence of mature women in media images of Han’s rallies seems to confirm this finding.
This leads to the question: What is going on with Taiwanese mothers?
A typical Han fan I know is a retired high-school teacher who has two apartments — one in Taipei and another in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水). Her daily routine consists of getting her hair done and eating out, plus a budget of NT$1,000 for playing bingo at a lottery store. It is quite a good lifestyle.
The effect of pension reforms on her life is at most that she can make one less trip abroad each year, but nowadays her favorite social activity is to go to protests on Ketagalan Boulevard.
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently warned that China’s National Social Security Fund, which is dedicated to paying old-age pensions, would go bankrupt in 2035.
The social security funds of northwest China’s three provinces are already spending more than their revenue. Each member of the generation born under China’s “one child” policy will have to support two elderly people.
In view of this, how can Taiwan’s pension system not need reform, especially considering that pensions in Taiwan generally pay out 75 percent or more of a person’s preretirement income.
Looking at Hong Kong and China, should Taiwan’s mothers not be doing a bit more for the next generation?
Chen An is a senior media worker.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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