The first public forum on pension reform failed to reach any clear conclusions yesterday, with proceedings often becoming chaotic as noisy, while violent protests further disrupted proceedings.
The forum, chaired by Minster of Labor Kuo Fang-yu (郭芳煜), began at 2pm, while the Alliance for Monitoring Pension Reform staged a protest outside the venue, the GIS MOTC Convention Center in Taipei.
The atmosphere at the forum was tense. Attendees insisted that a matter of procedure be addressed first, as the forum was not chaired by National Pension Reform Commission Deputy Convener Lin Wan-i (林萬億), who had chaired previous forums on the issue.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Participants were vociferous and often punctuated their criticisms with loud banging on tables.
The noisy complaints continued during Kuo’s opening remarks.
Chinese National Federation of Industries standing director Sam Ho (何語) told the forum that the structure of small and medium-sized enterprises — comprising 96.8 percent of the total number of the nation’s businesses — could not shoulder a proposed NT$1.2 trillion (US$37.18 billion) increase in insurance fees.
PHOTO: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The reforms aim to cap labor insurance rates at 18.5 percent, with an annual raise of 0.5 percent per year — representing NT$9.6 billion in additional costs — to achieve that target, Ho said, adding that the policy would severely restrict economic development.
The same pension plan must be used for military personnel, civil servants, educators, police, firefighters and ordinary workers in the same legislation, Military, Civil Servants and Educators Alliance Party Secretary-General Ta Chi-yu (達佶祐) said.
The reforms should abolish the Act Governing Recompense for the Discharge of Special Political Appointees (政務官退職金給與條例), Ta said, adding that the pensions of the president, vice president and other high-ranking government officials and legislators must be reformed before those for civil servants and ordinary workers.
Photo: Su Fang-ho, Taipei Times
The government must shoulder the ultimate responsibility of paying social security premiums, the party said, adding that the government must choose whether age or years of service are the benchmark for pension levels.
Outside the venue, protesters attempted to rush a police barricade and enter the building, with between 20 and 30 people managing to enter a courtyard outside the front door.
However, police formed a barricade using riot shields and prevented protesters from entering the building.
Kuo announced the end of the forum at 4:17pm after learning of the protests outside, saying that all the participants who had not yet submitted their statements would be able to do so in written form.
After pelting the venue with eggs during the proceedings, Oversight for the Pension Reforms Action Alliance protesters went on to throw eggs and joss paper at the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) headquarters.
DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) condemned the actions, saying that while the party respects people’s right to express their opinions, national policy should be discussed rationally instead of interrupted by emotional and violent outbursts.
The goal of pension reforms is for Taiwanese to enjoy a good quality of life in their retirement and for the government to allocate limited resources fairly to each retiree, Wang said.
“We hope the reforms can be successfully carried out after extensive discussions have taken place and with the full consensus of the public,” Wang said.
Yesterday’s forum, hosted by the commission, was the first of a series that are scheduled to also take place in central, southern and eastern regions later this month. The forums are intended to encourage public debate about the pension reform proposals.
A national affairs conference is scheduled to be held on Jan. 21 and Jan. 22 so that bills to revise related laws, including the Civil Service Retirement Act (公務人員退休法), can be drafted and delivered to the legislature for review in its next session, which is scheduled to start next month.
Additional reporting by Su Fang-ho
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most