Pension reform opponents ‘selfish’: DPP

Staff writer, with CNA

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday accused opponents of the government’s pension reform proposals of being selfish and shameless.

DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) denounced opponents of pension reform as people “the nation has taken good care of, who are now behaving selfishly and shamelessly.”

“We will absolutely not give in” even if they continue to resist reform, Tuan said.

Tuan’s criticisms were backed by DPP legislators Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳), Chung Kung-chao (鍾孔炤) and Lee Li-feng (李麗芬), who held a joint news conference at the DPP legislative caucus’ office.

Liu said that one of the leading opponents of pension reform, Lee Lai-hsi (李來希), would receive a monthly pension of NT$90,000 (US$2,854) upon retirement after working for 30 years as a public servant, while Alliance for Monitoring Pension Reform convener Huang Yao-nan (黃耀南) would receive NT$70,000 to NT$80,000 a month.

She said that about seven people staging a hunger strike to protest pension reform “would receive up to NT$6 million a year in pension payments from state coffers,” urging the public to “see through the selfish motivations of such individuals.”

Addressing the proposed reform, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Policy Committee director Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said at separate event yesterday that the KMT’s position is that “the government should communicate with the public more often” to ensure a level of consensus.

However, “it is extremely difficult to communicate with the government,” Tsai said, adding that officials had “ridden roughshod” over the opinions of those opposed to pension reform.

If the DPP uses its majority to ram pension reform proposals through the legislature, there is nothing the KMT can do, but in such a situation President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would have to take full responsibility for any and all consequences, Alex Tsai said.

Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) on Thursday laid out key reforms to the pension system. The proposals are to be discussed at a national conference at the Presidential Office Building tomorrow.