Global Voices » Portnoy Zheng

Taiwan: Crowd-funded investigative journalism website kicks off

Portnoy Zheng — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:57:15 +0000

weReport, a Taiwan media project that tries to boost disappearing investigative journalism using crowd-funded and crowd-sourced mechanism, kicks off today with its first fully funded proposal proposed by China famous blogger Zola. His proposal to investigate the situation of registration fee for cross-strait marriage derives from his personal experience.

Taiwan: Announcing Best Blog Award 2011

Portnoy Zheng — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:06:34 +0000

The 4th annual Taiwan Best Blog Awards was announced on Dec. 1st which aims to promote English-language blogs about Taiwan. David on Formosa piles up his list of best blogs 2011 candidates for you to visit.

Taiwan: Netizens React to Diplomat Accused of Abusing Domestic Labor

Portnoy Zheng — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:46:27 +0000

Thanks to slow, reluctant legislators, and “some” - or I should say “many” - cruel employers, Taiwan has a notoriously bad record of mistreating foreign labor. However, this time an inconvenient and awkward case has not happened in Taiwan, but in a Taiwanese diplomat's residence in the United States.

The headlines of major newspapers in Taiwan today concern Hsien-Hsien Liu (劉珊珊), the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Kansas City, who has been accused of underpaying her Philippine housekeeper, restricting her movement and forcing her to work 16 to 18 hours a day. Since Taiwan does not have official diplomatic relations with the US, Hsien-Hsien Liu is a de facto diplomat representing the Taiwanese government, though unofficially.

Most media outlets are discussing the negative impact on Taiwan-US relationships. Politicians from both the ruling Kuomingtang (KMT) or the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) say that the Taiwanese government should be “tough” on asserting Taiwan's sovereignty and demand diplomatic immunity for Liu, even though the federal persecutor told NBC News that since Taiwan is not an sovereign country Liu enjoys no such privilege.

While the rights of the abused maid are totally absent in the Taiwanese political discourse, Twitter users are more reflective about Taiwanese attitudes towards foreign labor.

@ancorena says [zh]:

我猜想在許多人心目中，美國一向都是世界人權的燈塔。可是到了今天這種時候，台灣人可能還要靠美國人的過激手段裡才能學習正確對待外籍勞工，實在是場難以形容的荒謬劇情。

I guess in many people's minds, the US represents the global human rights standard. But until this moment, Taiwanese is yet to learn from the US legal system how to treat foreign labor correctly. This is an unbelievably absurd drama beyond description.

GJ!Taiwan, a sarcastic fake news twitter account also covers this case [zh]:

外電報導，我駐美國密蘇里州堪薩斯台北經濟文化辦事處處長劉姍姍，讓菲傭超時工作，涉嫌壓榨虐待，且未依契約，只給對方1/3薪水，涉嫌詐欺，遭FBI探員逮捕拘留。外交部長楊進添昨證實此事，但表達嚴正抗議；因為劉姍姍所為不過是台灣雇主傳統，美方應予尊重。

According to overseas reports, Hsien-Hsien Liu, the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, was accused of abusing labor and fraud by forcing her Philippine housekeeper to work overtime and paying her only 1/3 of her wage, and therefore was arrested by the FBI. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Chin-tien Yang admitted this case and expressed a solemn protest: Since what Liu did is nothing but following the tradition of Taiwanese employers, the US should respect it.

Torrent Pien asks [zh] for more details about the case:

劉姍姍的外傭說是公務雇用，但合約每個月薪資1240美金，但外傭只實拿450，中間的790跑哪去了啊，劉處長要不承認私人雇用，要不承認貪汙

It is said that Liu's housekeeper was hired for official purposes, but since the contracted monthly wage is $US 1240, while the housekeeper got only $US 450, where is the missing $790? Liu can either choose to admit that she hired her privately or admit that she has committed corruption.

book686 comments [zh]:

[外交官被逮事件] 目前為止幾位總統候選人都只在主權問題上表態，卻沒人在（勞動）人權問題上發言～～

[On the case of the arrested diplomat] Until now, the presidential candidates only stress their attitude on Taiwan's sovereignty issue, and no one mentions the (labor) human righst issue.

Angel Smile says [zh]:

像這種廢人，我覺得就讓美國去整治她最好；不然弄這垃圾回國，就算查出是貪汙，還不是又全身而退。

Let the US punish this kind of axxhole; or if we get this garbage back, even if she has committed corruption, she will still be set free.

Winkai has an idea [zh]:

我覺得劉珊珊應該要申請台灣的國賠，因為是台灣政府長久放任國人苛刻'使用'外籍雇傭，才會讓劉大公務員誤以為可以那麼作

I think Liu should apply for State compensation from the Taiwan government, which has been encouraging its people to “use” foreign housekeeper abusively. That's why Liu thought she had done nothing wrong.

You can see past reports on Taiwan and labor issues here, here, and here. By the way, foreign housekeepers and carers in Taiwan still have no legal right to labor holidays.

Taiwan: Updates from “Occupy Taipei”

Portnoy Zheng — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:16:05 +0000

Green Party member and active participant of Occupy Taipei MingWangX(王鐘銘) updates the recent activities of the movement: “On the 15th day, 10/28, the police and the park administrators came again and tried to confiscate the tents for the 3rd time. They didn’t succeed because the member in one of the tents refused to leave even though the poles were stripped and the tent toppled. …That night, Occupy Taipei showed an open-air movie, “Capitalism, A Love Story.” The Occupy Taipei members held a meeting after the movie and decided to stay in the park and keep this movement going. There will be a 2-day event on 11/11-12, including movie, open-space conference, camping, barter market.”

Taiwan: Will Taishang be the decisive power of Presidential election?

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:11:05 +0000

On Ballots and Bullets, Chun-Yi Lee brings up the role of “Taishang”(Taiwanese businessmen, especially those who are doing business in China) in the coming joint election of President and legislators next January: “Most Taishang expect the government to negotiate with the Chinese government a better deal for them in more practical terms. For instance, in acquiring loans from local Chinese banks. This kind of practical issue certainly was not included in the grand framework of ECFA, and yet it is greatly needed for most Taishang in China.”

Taiwan: Photos from the LGBT Pride Parade 2011 in Taipei

Portnoy Zheng — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:27:07 +0000

The logo of Taiwan LGBT Pride 2011

More than 50,000 people joined the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei on October 29, 2011, marking the biggest gay pride parade in Asia.

The Taiwanese LGBT community has been struggling for decades to obtain equality and respect. Though there is less and less hostility in everyday life interaction, discrimination is still very much embedded in the education and legal system.

According to the event's official website:

A boy holding a board saying ‘My mom is lesbian, and my mom is perfect'. Photo by Coolloud.org (CC-BY-ND-ND)

Compared with the very direct, “in- your- face” hostility toward LGBT people a decade ago, the anti- LGBT groups nowadays have learnt to say words like “we respect LGBT people” and pretend to be liberal. In the meanwhile they never stop trying to deprive LGBT people of basic citizen rights. Furthermore, they even started to adopt unethical means to influence the legislators and policy makers, which might jeopardize our precious achievement of democratic development. Under this tough circumstance, Taiwan LGBT Pride Community urges the LGBT people to be more cautious about discrimination in the culture and society, and keep uncovering the well- camouflaged hostility in order to build a more solid foundation for our human rights.

First held in 2003 with about 500 participants, the event has quickly grown more popular with 25,000 people participating in 2009, and 30,000 in 2010. This year, the participant record has been broken again.

Under the theme “LGBT fight back! Discrimination get out!”, the parade started at Kaidagelan Boulevard in Taipei and separated into two routes before reconvening at the Kaidagelan Boulevard. Demonstrators demanded respect for the sexual orientation and preferences of youth, implementation of sex education, legalization of gay marriage, and also decriminalization of sex work.

Below are some photos from this year's parade taken by Coolloud.org.tw:

Some religious group are against informing youth about LGBT in schools. A parade participant plays ‘Guanyin (觀世音菩薩)', a bodhisatta regarded as both male and female, to demonstrate that ‘even gods can be LGBT'.

Students from many university LGBT clubs took part in the parade.

Many foreign tourists and exchange students are also supporters.

The speaker spoke of the negative treatment he received from his employer because he wears women's clothing to work. The board says ‘cross-gender needs labor representation'

Taiwan International Workers Association also voices the sexual rights of underrepresented migrant workers in Taiwan

LGBT members with physical disabilities say they suffer double discrimination.

Popular singer Deserts Chang is this year's ‘Rainbow Ambassador'

You can see more photos in this Coolloud.org's flickr album and the official album released by the parade's website.

Taiwan, Taipei: Occupiers' last front torn down

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:23:00 +0000

Green Party member Wang Zhong-ming posts his picture on facebook of he sitting in a damaged tent torn down by the police near Taipei 101, the counterpart symbol of WallStreet in Taiwan. On the other hand, open data advocate Schee Zhu-han analyzed the flaws[zht] of the online strategies in different phases of the activity.

Taiwan: The Story of Chiou Ho-shun

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:02:42 +0000

Chiou Ho-shun, a death row inmate in Taiwan, may be executed at any time. He said in the mini-documentary, “I hope you can save me, but if it’s too late, please scatter my ashes in the Longfeng harbour, and buy a meatball, come and see me.” In the documentary, you can see how police manipulated confessions by assaulting and threatening Chiou and one “witness”.

Taiwan: Occupy 101, merely a translation of Occupy Wall Street ?

Portnoy Zheng — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:35:48 +0000

Yesterday(Oct. 15), more than 300 “occupiers” gathered at the 1st floor of Taipei 101, the landmark of capitalism in Taiwan[photo] to protest against the financial industry and biased governmental policy. Sun Qiong-li(孫窮理) of Coolloud.org pointed out[zh] that for Taiwan, our first enemy should be imperialism from US, and the event itself needs to be filled with more actions and discourses.

Taiwan: Tribute to Steve Jobs

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:48:36 +0000

Programmer and open source activist Timdream wrote a tribute to Mr. Steve Jobs, about how his life matches with Mr. Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement address, in which he ask Stanford graduates to “look backwards and connect the dots”.

Taiwan: Polyglot teaches you Taiwanese indigenous languages

Portnoy Zheng — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:10:53 +0000

Mike Campbell, a polyglot who can already speak fluent Mandarin, Hakka, Fukien-major languages used in Taiwan, along with a dozen of other languages, is now teaching people how to speak Sediq, Truku, and other rarely spoken Taiwanese indigenous languages on Youtube that now even most indigenous people now cannot speak.

Taiwan: Saving Siraya

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:38:52 +0000

From the blog: “Saving Siraya is a blog dedicated to the protection of a Taiwanese indigenous tribe that is not officially recognized by the government and therefore denied of basic human rights. Due to the demands of Zhong Xing University and the Taiwanese national government, starting JUNE 29th, 2011 Siraya homes will be demolished and families already suffering from poverty will become homeless.”

Taiwan: Looking forward to “Seediq Bale”

Portnoy Zheng — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:03:35 +0000

The long awaited movie “Seediq Bale”-a movie depicting the controversy and conflict between Japan colonial force and Seedip people in 1930-released its first theatrical trailer on Youtube.

Taiwan: A Song for Those Pro-Nuclear Power Legislators

Portnoy Zheng — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 10:47:45 +0000

Political vlogger 廖小貓(Kitty Liao) made a music video with the names of the legislators who passed the additional budget of the 4th Nuclear Power Plant that is under construction. In the lyrics, Liao asserts: “Remember these legislators who poison Taiwanese people, and don't vote for them!”

Taiwan: Kidnapped Fisherman Killed by U.S. Navy

Portnoy Zheng — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:42:11 +0000

Coolloud reports the protest in front of American Institute against U.S. Government by the Association of Labor and Human Right of Fishermen in Taiwan. On 5/10, the kidnapped ship master, Wu Lai-yu(吳來于), was murdered during an anti-pirate mission conducted by U.S. Navy near Somalia coast, whose body was buried at sea without telling his family in Taiwan, and the U.S. Navy still does not provide any explanation on the incident.