The usage of electricity for the Chunghsing Apartment (中興寓所) — the codename for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) residence — has decreased by as much as 88 percent, when comparing its electricity bill last year with the usage of electricity in 2007 by then--president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) residence, a Presidential Office report said yesterday.
According to the Presidential Office report, the amount of electricity used at the presidential residence in the past four years has seen a “drastic drop,” and the monthly average of electricity usage last year was 3,487 kilowatt hours (kWh), compared with 28,433kWh in 2007, or roughly 88 percent less.
During Chen’s administration, average monthly electricity use at the Yushan Residence (玉山官邸) — the codename assigned to Chen’s residence — went from 12,120kWh in 2000 to 28,433kWh in 2007, which is a growth rate of about 2.3 times, the Presidential Office report said yesterday.
The Presidential Office said that since Ma moved into the presidential residence, the property’s consumption of electricity has shown a downward trend. As for Ma’s own residence in Taipei City’s Wenshan District (文山), the average reading per month is 392kWh and the average monthly electricity bill between 2006 and October 2008 amounted to NT$971.
Ma has strived to save energy and reduce carbon emissions even in summer, the office said, as he only switched on air conditioners for a few hours a day in the hottest month of the summer and used electric fans the rest of the time.
In response, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said Ma constantly compared himself with former president Chen Shui-bian.
Lin said the government pays the electricity bills of the presidential residence with taxpayers’ money, while the public has to pay more expensive bills from their own hard-earned money because of the surging fuel prices, electricity rates and consumer-goods prices.
“Ma only pays attention to Chen and disregards the miserable livelihood of the people, suggesting he is distant from the people,” Lin said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs announced on April 12 that as from May 15, the state-run Taiwan Power Co will hike power rates for industrial users by 35 percent, for commercial users by 30 percent and for households by an average of 16.9 percent.
The electricity price hike, in addition to the ministry’s announcement on April 1 that gasoline prices would be raised by between 7 percent and 11 percent, effective from April 2, have fueled public grievances.
A poll released by the think tank Taiwan Brain Trust on April 15 shows that more than 90 percent of respondents said the recent gasoline price hikes and other increases in retail prices have increased their financial burden.
The need to tighten their budgets has also led to people’s discontent with the government, as the poll showed 85.3 percent of respondents saying they felt dissatisfied with the government’s ability to handle livelihood issues.
Additional reporting by CNA
Translated by Jake Chung and Stacy Hsu, Staff Writers
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS