Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday pledged to make “proper and reasonable adjustments” to pension benefits for retired civil servants if the KMT wins the presidency next year.
Wu made the remarks on the sidelines of an energy forum held by the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation and the Fair Winds Foundation in Taipei, where he was asked to comment on KMT Legislator Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) plan to launch more pension reforms if he is elected president.
Wang, who announced his presidential bid on Thursday, said at a banquet with retired public servants, military personnel, police officers and public-school teachers in Taipei on Friday that he would do them justice by enacting a “second pension reform” if elected.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
However, Wang, who served as legislative speaker for 17 years, added that the success of his plan hinged on whether the KMT secured a majority at the Legislative Yuan.
“I have already said this before, if we return to power in 2020, one of the wrongs we are going to correct is pension reform,” Wu said.
Wu said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) went too far with its reforms, leaving public servants, military personnel, police officers and public-school teachers worried about whether they would be able to live a dignified and comfortable life after retirement.
The KMT would certainly reassess the reforms and adopt “reasonable and proper” adjustments if it regained power next year, Wu said, but added that such effort should not be called a “second pension reform.”
Wu, who is also rumored to be interested in vying for the presidency, previously proposed that the government issue consumer vouchers to make up for financial losses sustained by retired public-sector workers due to pension reforms.
The DPP administration’s pension reforms for retired military personnel cleared the legislative floor in June last year, following the passage of its reform bills for retired civil servants and public-school teachers in June 2017.
The reforms gradually reduce the groups’ income replacement ratio, with an 18 percent preferential interest rate for savings accounts being phased out over two-and-a-half years for retired civil servants and public-school teachers, and over 10 years for retired military personnel.
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