Taiwan passes bill to cut veterans’ pensions that sparked violent protests
Vote is a victory for Tsai Ing-wen, whose reform push faced intense opposition
.png?itok=arIb17P0)
Taiwan’s military veterans will see their pensions cut as soon as next month after parliament passed a controversial bill that had sparked violent demonstrations.
Wednesday’s vote marks a victory for President Tsai Ing-wen, whose attempts to make sweeping pension cutbacks since she came to power two years ago have faced intense opposition.
Senior veterans will see their monthly stipend cut by more than 20 per cent over the next decade, after a smaller initial drop, according to official estimates.
The government says veterans of lower ranks will see less severe cuts to their pensions.
Tsai has said pension reform is her most important task, with official reports warning that an unreformed pension system could be bankrupt by 2020.
But thousands of veterans and other civil servants have regularly gathered outside parliament to protest the cuts.
Tsai said that the “crises have been overcome”, following the passage of the bill.
“I have faced a great deal of criticism over the past two years, and these criticisms are exactly why politicians in the past were unwilling and afraid to push for pension reform,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
“But I never hesitated ... reform must start from me,” she said.
A former lieutenant colonel will initially see their monthly stipend cut from T$70,797 (US$2,340) to T$69,353, and eventually to T$56,360 after 10 years, according to government estimates.
The majority of public sector retirees are supporters of the opposition Kuomintang which relinquished its majority in Taiwan’s parliament for the first time in 2016 after losing elections to Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party.
Legislators passed a separate pension reform bill last June that targeted civil servants. The government hopes both bills will come into effect on July 1.
In the past the government offered generous incentives to public sector employees to compensate for low starting salaries.
As Taiwan’s economy has slowed down in recent decades government jobs have become increasingly attractive, placing additional burdens on state finances.
