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Think tank urges Ma to address
nation’s injustices
SAY GOODBYE: Taiwan Labor Front
secretary-general Son Yu-lian said if Ma did not increase the minimum wage by
more than 3%, he and the KMT would lose votes
By Ko Shu-ling / Staff Reporter
Members of Taiwan Thinktank hold
up six placards with demands for President Ma Ying-jeou at a press conference
yesterday. The demands are, from left to right, environmental, residential,
welfare, educational, tax and labor justice.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Taiwan Thinktank yesterday urged President
Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to address the long-standing problems of social and
environmental injustice and not just fixate on cross-strait issues.
Social and environmental injustice have hampered the nation’s progress, Taiwan
Thinktank executive director Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said.
“We want a different future,” she said. “If the future leader of the nation
cannot create an environment that is more just, how does he or she expect to
earn the public’s support, because isn’t the purpose of a government’s existence
to protect the well-being of the majority of the people?”
Cheng made the remarks at a forum organized by Taiwan Thinktank to discuss what
it said where the six injustices facing the nation and to ask Ma to address
those problems with concrete measures.
Saying that the nation’s tax system is unjust, Cheng urged the Ma administration
to reform the system and to tax capital gains on increased land value, property
trading and security trading. She said a more just tax system could help reduce
the poverty rate and narrow the wealth disparity gap.
She also said there is injustice in the welfare system, adding that a
responsible government must establish a comprehensive system that mitigates the
impact of globalization and economic liberalization on the livelihood of the
public.
Cheng called on the Ma administration to nationalize daycare and preschool
education, address the problem of the working poor, establish a basic system of
national annuity and amend the Social Assistance Act (社會救助法).
Also calling for justice in the housing market, Cheng proposed that the
governmnet could satisfy the public’s demand for reasonable housing prices by
building additional public housing and leasing the units at affordable prices.
She also appealed to the government to let more students enter public colleges
and universities, provide scholarships and stipends to students in need of
financial assistance, as well as guarantee job opportunities for graduates.
Speaking about labor issues, Cheng urged the government to map out a blueprint
to better integrate the employment needs of the nation’s industrial sectors with
the educational system.
Appealing for environmental justice, she called on the government to enact new
laws and build a nuclear-free homeland.
Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), convener of the Alliance for Fair Tax Reform, called on
all presidential candidates to present a plan to pay off the public debt, which
has reached NT$4.9 trillion (US$153 billion). This amount included the NT$1.4
trillion borrowed by the Ma administration, Wang said.
“US President Barrack Obama has proposed to reduce the US deficit by US$4
trillion over 12 years,” he said. “I want to know what our presidential
candidates plan to do to allay the NT$4.9 trillion deficit.”
Peng Yang-kai (彭揚凱), spokesman of the Alliance for the Promotion of Social
Housing, said there are two primary reasons causing housing prices to soar and
the disparity in income allocation: The government’s cavalier attitude toward
housing policy and the unfair land and housing taxes, which he said encouraged
property speculation, distorted housing prices and created a means for
developers and politicians to benefit.
Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said Ma should declare
the problem of unemployment a national security issue as he did for the
declining birthrate and brain drain.
Son said there are more than 1.03 million people whose monthly salary is less
than NT$20,000, and more than 725,000 people who earn the minimum wage.
Although the minimum wage was recently increased by NT$600 a month, Son said it
was only an additional NT$20 a day — just enough to buy two boiled tea eggs at a
convenience store.
If the Ma administration decides to increase the minimum wage by only 3 percent
this year, it should prepare itself to lose workers’ votes, he said.
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