Reaffirming the government's resolve to reform the country's credit cooperatives, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday accused those who oppose such reform of cowardice, and vowed to implement reforms even it it costs the government its power.
"Determination to reform always takes pain and incurs a price," Chen told a group of business leaders.
"Pushing for reform may cost us our political power, but not as surely as not pushing for reform," he said.
Chen called those who balk at reform in order to maintain power cowardly, egotistical, selfish and ignoble.
"I call upon all the people to firmly support the government's resolve to reform," he said.
Chen was addressing the opening ceremony of the 8th anniversary of the founding of the World Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce yesterday morning, one day after former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) warned the DPP that it risked losing power if it enforced measures proposed by the Ministry of Finance to reorganize the farmers' and fishermen's credit cooperatives.
On Sept. 9 ministry announced prohibitions on credit cooperatives which have a non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of more than 10 percent from taking new savings from non-members, offering interest rates above that of Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫) and granting loans to their own board members.
The measures took immediate effect.
The ministry also banned cooperatives with NPL ratios between 15 and 25 percent from granting new loans over NT$5 million and those with NPL ratios of more than 25 percent from extending old loans and establishing new branches.
Lee has spoken publicly several times to defend the credit institutes, which were created in 1960s by the former KMT government to offer loans to help members buy agricultural machinery and seeds.
The institutes have long been regarded as the KMT's power base and some of the cooperatives have become key sources of cash for local politicians and political factions.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the cooperatives' NPL ratios of between 17.5 and 21.5 percent, compared to 7.5 percent at banks.
Many of the loans, according to the ministry, are the result of corruption.
Taiwan's NPL ratio is now considered so large that it threatens the country's financial development.
"The government has to take good care of the farmers, or it might run the risk of losing its power," Lee said in a speech Monday.
However, Chen said that as of June, the bad-loans accumulated in the credit departments of farmers' and fishermen's associations reached NT$140 billion, which accounts for 21 percent of the loans.
"If the problem remains unsolved for another year, it will cost taxpayers NT$10 billion," he said.
Meanwhile, outside the Legislative Yuan, hundreds of representatives of the farmers' and fishermen's associations gathered to protest the government's plans, where Premier Yu Shyi-kun was giving his first address to the new session of the new legislature.
Yu, however, stressed that the government will protect the rights of the associations, but vowed to handle their tangled financial problems.
"The losing profits of problem loans has seriously damaged the country's financial base.
"Even now the credit cooperatives lose NT$100 million every three days," the premier told lawmakers.
"I want to ask -- would maintaining the current situation without any reforms be the best policy?" Yu said.
"If we don't take care of these credit institutes, they will influence our entire economy."
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu