The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has proposed amendments to the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) that would put the brakes on pension reform progress.
On April 12, legislators voted on the KMT’s motion to review its draft amendments. The KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party mobilized their legislators, and the KMT’s motion passed by just one or two votes in the three rounds of votes taken. However, the day’s votes were annulled due to an anomaly.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan People’s Party, which one might expect to support pension reforms from the standpoint of young people, decided to abstain.
The three parties’ lawmakers rallied around their respective party lines, but the important issue of pension reforms should not be a party-political battlefield.
In the US, the Democratic and the Republican parties are often locked in conflict, but many bills of national strategic importance are passed after a consensus is reached between the two parties. Whichever party is in opposition does not oppose every bill just for the sake of opposing it. That willingness to cooperate is a normal state of affairs in a mature democracy, as opposed to acting as if there is an election being held every day.
Pension reform is one of those issues that ruling and opposition parties should reach a consensus on. Taiwan’s falling birthrate is obvious just looking at the number of births recorded each year. The number of new workers joining the labor market falls with each passing year, while the number of people retiring keeps increasing.
All the policies adopted in the past were based on the false assumption that the working population would continue to grow. Welfare policies that include healthcare and pensions, must be comprehensively reviewed. If not, serious problems are sure to arise, possibly in the short term, but at least within the next decade or so. It does not take a mathematical genius to work out these simple facts.
Of course opposition parties are there to supervise the government. However, when it comes to the obviously serious problem of pension reforms, if the opposition wants to criticize anything, it should be that the existing reforms do not go far enough and are being implemented too slowly.
In light of Taiwan’s population structure, it is clearly no longer possible, as it was in the past, to be generous with other people’s money. That would result in each generation carrying a heavier burden than the one before, as the next generation keeps shrinking or possibly even disappear if the burden is too heavy. Couples of childbearing age might decide not to have children, who would in effect be born into debt. Alternatively, they might simply emigrate.
Political news media have reveled in the spectacle of the cliffhanger vote on pension reforms, with parties thinking of any possible way to criticize and blame each other. However, it would be wrong for the three parties not to push pension reform forward — which has to be done one way or another — by reaching a consensus.
Does the KMT want to be in opposition forever? If the government’s tax revenue is completely doled out to retirees who are no longer productive, it would cause government debt to spike, while not enough money would be invested in anything else.
If the KMT gets back into power at some point and takes over a country that is financially bankrupt, with crumbling infrastructure due to insufficient maintenance and construction, who will be blaming whom? Any future KMT government would wish it could get ahold of today’s KMT legislators and give them a thorough scolding.
Inter-party wrangling, with each party having its own standpoints, is a normal state of affairs in the world of politics. However, if one wants to oppose something just for the sake of it, one has to pick the right issues to squabble over. The pension system must be reformed. The only problem is that it has not been reformed fast or thoroughly enough. There is no room for further delay, still less for backtracking.
For Taiwan to have a future, it must invest in young people, not just dole out money to the elderly. As for young people themselves, they should open their eyes and see which party’s political machinations are destroying their future.
Tommy Lin is president of the Formosa Republican Association and the Taiwan United Nations Alliance.
Translated by Julian Clegg
In a summer of intense political maneuvering, Taiwanese, whose democratic vibrancy is a constant rebuke to Beijing’s authoritarianism, delivered a powerful verdict not on China, but on their own political leaders. Two high-profile recall campaigns, driven by the ruling party against its opposition, collapsed in failure. It was a clear signal that after months of bitter confrontation, the Taiwanese public is demanding a shift from perpetual campaign mode to the hard work of governing. For Washington and other world capitals, this is more than a distant political drama. The stability of Taiwan is vital, as it serves as a key player
Yesterday’s recall and referendum votes garnered mixed results for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). All seven of the KMT lawmakers up for a recall survived the vote, and by a convincing margin of, on average, 35 percent agreeing versus 65 percent disagreeing. However, the referendum sponsored by the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on restarting the operation of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County failed. Despite three times more “yes” votes than “no,” voter turnout fell short of the threshold. The nation needs energy stability, especially with the complex international security situation and significant challenges regarding
Much like the first round on July 26, Saturday’s second wave of recall elections — this time targeting seven Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers — also failed. With all 31 KMT legislators who faced recall this summer secure in their posts, the mass recall campaign has come to an end. The outcome was unsurprising. Last month’s across-the-board defeats had already dealt a heavy blow to the morale of recall advocates and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), while bolstering the confidence of the KMT and its ally the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). It seemed a foregone conclusion that recalls would falter, as
The fallout from the mass recalls and the referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant continues to monopolize the news. The general consensus is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been bloodied and found wanting, and is in need of reflection and a course correction if it is to avoid electoral defeat. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has not emerged unscathed, either, but has the opportunity of making a relatively clean break. That depends on who the party on Oct. 18 picks to replace outgoing KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫). What is certain is that, with the dust settling
RSS