Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

An inconsistent Presidential Office

Taipei Times Editorial

If futures were built on promises, Taiwan under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would be the envy of the international community — prosperous, dignified and safe from harm.

Sadly for Ma, running a country requires more than slogans designed to meet a moment’s requirements — statesmanship calls for vision, action and consistency, all qualities that our promise-prone president, after more than two-and-a-half years in office, has yet to show us he possesses.

DPP criticizes civil servant perk law

Taipei Times

Retired junior public servants will soon see a nice boost in their savings, as a law increasing the amount of money they can deposit into an 18 percent preferential interest rate account comes into effect this year.

The move, passed by the legislature last year, was criticized by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday as unfair and unnecessary as interest rates in public banks continue to hover below 2 percent, despite a 0.125 interest rate hike announced last week by the central bank.

Referendum proposal likely to be rejected: TSU head

Taipei Times

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) yesterday said the chances that a review committee that has already rejected proposals for a referendum on a controversial trade pact with China would treat a fourth and final bid on the matter any differently were very slim.

Speaking outside a hearing held to determine the legality of his latest proposal to turn the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) over to a public vote, Huang said the committee would likely turn it down when it reviews it tomorrow, despite the fact that referendums are a “basic right.”

Prison head says Chen can receive treatment in jail

Taipei Times

The head of the Taipei Prison yesterday said there was no need for former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to receive medical treatment outside the prison, even though he has recently complained about feeling unwell.

Fang Tze-chieh (方子傑) was responding to a call by Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), the son of the former president, for authorities to allow his father to leave jail to receive check-ups or treatment.

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