By Joyce Weng

Taipei, Nov. 13－The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), once represented the democracy trend in Taiwan, now is hated by Taiwanese youth. The netizens joked that ”The anti-DPP party” has become the major party in these days.

Why did a young and ambitious party become like this? The netizens listed some reasons why the youth hate DPP.

The most controversial one would be the Wu Yin-Ning Scandals. The Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation (TAPMC) is Taiwan’s largest agricultural sales platform. DPP nominated Wu as the director of TAPMC with high salary. However, Wu came under fire for using TAPMC discretionary funds to buy unsold vegetables that were to be thrown out to be donated in her native Changhua, with accusations that she used these vegetables to benefit politician relatives in Changhua. Likewise, Wu was criticized for a 30% decrease in vegetable prices across Taiwan in March after the Taipei’s two central fruit and vegetable wholesale markets saw a series of closures.

The second one is the elimination of National Pension Insurance. The pension reform plan for civil servants, which passed the legislative floor last year and is to take effect in July, set a minimum monthly pension payment of NT$32,160 (US$1,085) for civil servants. This elimination made more than 5,000 people attend a rally to express their anger over what they considered an unfair reform bill, including the Taiwan Association of Firefighters and the Retired Police Officers Association.

The changes to labor laws triggered people’s anger as well. Changes to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) demanded by businesses went effect on 1st March 1, despite many protests by labor groups for backsliding on labor rights. The amendment to the Labor Standards Act relaxes the “one fixed day off, one flexible day off” (一例一休) regulations. However, many business owners claimed that the regulation increased the personnel expense and it has a bad effect on economy.the

Although DPP hopes to hold on to its seats, the government is still grappling with structural issues, such as income inequality and low wages among Taiwanese youth. And other reasons such as the intervention on the freedom of press, Shen’ao power plant issues and many other scandals have made people lose their hopes for DPP as well.