By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Hundreds of veterans from the army’s 1st Special Forces urged the legislature at a protest in Taipei yesterday to hold a public hearing and pass compensation legislation for the one-year extensions of their military service decades ago.
More than 570,000 personnel had their military service extended by one to three years between 1967 and 1986 and they were all recruited as part of the former 1st Special Forces.
Their forced service extensions had violated the Military Service Act (兵役法) and was unconstitutional, said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), who -introduced a draft bill in the legislature calling for compensation for the extra years of service.
Chai chaired the Army 1st Special Forces Rights Association to promote veterans’ rights and organized a 500km march along the west coast, which started in Pingtung County on Oct. 22 and ended in downtown Taipei yesterday, concluding a march of 22 days.
The association submitted a petition to the legislature, stating that the extensions were illegal and unconstitutional and urged the legislature to hold a public hearing on the case and pass the compensation legislation as soon as possible.
“I missed a lot of time with my family for having to serve that extra year. Some of my comrades broke up with their girlfriends at the time. Those things were irreparable,” said a 56-year-old veteran surnamed Chen (陳), who served as a signal troop and currently lives in Sinjhuang District (新莊), New Taipei City (新北市).
Chen and other veterans also condemned the Ministry of National Defense, which insisted that the extensions, which was carried out in the form of an executive order, was legal, and said the current administration’s claim of budget shortcomings was an excuse to discourage the legislation.
“We never said we wanted a large amount of compensation nor did we say we want the money now, but the government will not admit it made a mistake. That’s the problem,” said DPP Taipei City Councilor Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘), himself a veteran of the 1st Special Forces and currently the deputy chair of the association.
If the government could spend more than NT$215 million (US$7.15 million) in two nights for a musical and NT$13.5 billion for the Taipei International Flora Expo, it should not use budgeting as an excuse, Chiang said.
The association said its members would demand legislative candidates in their districts to support the bill ahead of the January legislative elections and it does not rule out organizing more protests if their voices are not heard.