Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou urged to give to charity over missed targets
President quizzed over call to donate cash to charity if his economic targets were not met
First came the suspension of year-end bonuses for retired public employees, a benefit that opposition politicians argued was unfair when so many Taiwanese are short on cash. Then came cuts to lawmakers' allowances, as well.
Now, Ma Ying-jeou is the latest target in Taipei's pay wars, with Democratic Progressive Party legislators pressing the president to give half his monthly NT$470,000 (HK$124,473) salary and NT$3.3 million special monthly allowance to charity.
The donation argument stems from a televised debate in 2008 during which Ma, then running for his first term as president, was asked by a charity group's representative whether he would give away half of his earnings if he failed to achieve his economic goals.
Specifically, Ma's stated aims then included an annual growth rate of at least 6 per cent and a jobless rate below 3 per cent.
Ma never actually accepted the pledge, saying only that donations were not an issue for him because he regularly gave money to charitable groups. But that did not stop the DPP attempting to hold him to the commitment yesterday.
DPP member Lin Tai-hua asked Premier Sean Chen in parliament yesterday: "Ma had promised to donate half of his salary if he failed to achieve an annual economic growth rate of 6 per cent, unemployment rate below 3 per cent and US$30,000 in per capita income. Did he do that?"