Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Wednesday his administration owes the country's civil servants for its success in meeting the challenges but at the same time sided with opposition parties in opposing expanding the pension system for career civil servants to cover officials appointed for political reasons.
Speaking at a ceremony to honor distinguished civil servants of 2003, the president touted the achievements that his administration has made amid the challenges of an international economic slowdown and capital flight to mainland China, adding that the civil servants take the lion's share of the credit for this.
Noting that the Civil Service Ministry under the Examination Yuan was trying to extend by one year a 10-year-old law which gives politically-appointed officials a pension for career civil servants, the president said career civil servants are different from politically appointed officials who usually step down with the change of government and should not be eligible for perks reserved for career civil servants.
The ministry in charge with the pension system should not set up the country's politically appointed officials by requesting the legislature to extend the controversial law and giving them undeserved privileges, the president said.