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Pension Reform May Be Put On Hold
The China Post
Taiwan
October 28, 2005
Tsai Pi-huang, member of the Examination Yuan, urged yesterday the pension reform be put on hold until after the yearend local government elections.
His call, made at an Examination Yuan meeting, was endorsed by three colleagues.
As the pension reform has become a campaign issue, Tsai said, there should be a cool-off period. "We should put it on hold," he pointed out.
Voters will go to the polls on December 3 to elect 73 mayors and magistrates across the nation. Taipei and Kaohsiung, the two special municipalities, will not elect their mayors.
Under the reform, the Ministry of Personnel under the Examination will set a ceiling on part of the pension put in a special savings account, which accrues an annual interest of 18 percent.
President Chen Shui-bian ordered the cut in the payment on October 16. He has continued to harp on the reform, while the Kuomintang and the People First Party oppose it as a campaign gimmick.
In particular, President Chen fired a series of broadsides against Lien Chan, a former vice president and Kuomintang chairman, for accepting a hefty pension and subsidies.
The opposition is hitting back by proposing to cut all the presidential pensions and subsidies. President Chen and his vice president Annette Lu will be entitled to similarly rich pensions and subsidies after they step down in 2008.
Lawmaker Kao Chih-peng, one of President Chen's top assistants, continued attacks on former Kuomintang government officials for receiving high pensions.
Those under attack included Ting Mao-shih, secretary-general to the president; Gene Loh, ambassador to South Africa; Wang Tso-yung, president of the Control Yuan; Shih Chi-yang, president of the Judicial Yuan; and Lin Feng-cheng, minister of communications and transportation.
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