Taipei Timeas
Date: Jun 18, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter
Reducing the government subsidy for the Taiwan Association of Retired Firefighters could cause people
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Wu Den-yih yesterday addresses a meeting of the Taiwan Association of Retired Firefighters in New Taipei City marking the association’s fifth anniversary. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
to die of frustration, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday.
“The association’s mission is not over. It offers the government assistance,” Wu said at a ceremony in New Taipei City marking the association’s fifth anniversary.
“However, the government does not seem to treat firefighters with much respect,” he said.
The association was founded in 2012 to help the government facilitate rescue missions.
Former minister of the interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) promised to the association a NT$2 million (US$65,830) subsidy every year, but President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration cut the subsidy to NT$280,000, which could cause people to die of frustration, Wu said.
He attributed the cut to the NT$890 billion budget the government has earmarked for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, which he said “lacks vision.” [FULL STORY]
