The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday it would hold a series of rallies this month and stage a mass protest next month against the “inaction and incompetence” of the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and to let the voice of the people be heard.
“The DPP’s Central Standing Committee has passed a resolution to hold a series of events with the theme: ‘Needed: livelihood, democracy and reform,’” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said after the committee meeting yesterday.
The public and the DPP have no choice but to take to the streets to voice their anger, because the Ma administration has either stayed inactive on people’s suffering or caused it due its failed policies, Su said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“Ma has refused to reshuffle the Cabinet and to call a national affairs conference to solve the nation’s fiscal problems. He has remained silent on the controversial Next Media Group (壹傳媒集團) deal and China’s infringement of Taiwan’s sovereignty with its new passports. Most of all, he has failed to boost the economy,” Su said.
DPP caucus whip Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) added that while people are lamenting their poverty, the government has shown little concern for their problems by instead focusing on whether to continue to pay year-end bonuses to public-sector retirees.
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said the party has applied for the right to protest on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office on at least three dates this month, adding that the party would unveil its policies and the main thrust of next month’s demonstration at the rallies.
Lin also criticized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has warned people about using passport stickers made by the DPP as a counter move to Beijing’s inclusion of Taiwan on its new passports, saying the stickers are “a violation of regulations and could cause trouble for tourists when clearing customs and entering foreign countries.”
The stickers are for passport covers rather than inside passports and there would be no violation of regulations, Lin said.
In related developments, amid a lingering dispute in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over a government-proposed plan to limit year-end pension benefits for government retirees, Examination Yuan President John Kuan (關中) yesterday called on the Executive Yuan to stick to its reforms.
“The government has to insist on the policy that was decided on or risk creating doubts about its determination to carry out reforms,” Kuan said in an interview on Hit FM radio.
In response to concerns raised by the DPP over what it said are illegitimate and unfair privileges granted to 445,708 retirees from the military, the government, public schools and state-owned enterprises, at an amount equivalent to 1.5 months of their pre-retirement salary, Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) in October proposed reducing the recipients to two groups of people.
He proposed that only retirees or the families of deceased retirees who receive a monthly pension of less than NT$20,000 and families of retirees who were killed, injured or disabled in wars or on military exercises should receive the benefit this year.
That would slash the budget to a 19th of its original size, which was approximately NT$20.2 billion (US$697 million), and the number of recipients to about 40,000.
However, KMT lawmakers remain divided on the issue.
Executive Yuan Secretary-General Steven Chen (陳士魁) said yesterday that the Cabinet remained steadfast in distributing the bonuses in accordance with the premier’s plan.
The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration is studying how to institutionalize the year-end bonuses and is expected to come up with a plan by Monday, he said.
There is a possibility that pension payments could vary according to economic conditions, Steve Chen added.
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers