Contest raises query
The success of the last month's "Taipei Listen to Me" poetry-writing contest was a big insult to Manila Economic and Cul-tural Office (MECO) officials.
It is ironic that the contest was sponsored by the Council of Labor Affairs and Taipei City's Bureau of Labor Affairs. According to bureau director Cheng Tsun-chi (
The organizers also wish to show the Taiwanese that foreign workers are brilliant and should be treated fairly.
But it is the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), under the umbrella of MECO, which is responsible for the promotion of culture and the arts for Filipino communities anywhere in the world. Moreover, most poetry-writing and essay-writing competitions are sponsored by either churches or non-governmental organizations.
Migrant workers are now asking when OWWA will spend the budget allotted to it for the fulfilment of its duties.
Ed Comia
Taoyuan
Gene theory racist
Having read Pu Ta-Chung's (卜大中) assertion that modern Chinese have a sense of inferiority in their genes ("Looking on the bright side of life," Nov. 26, page 8), I tried to go through genetic literature to see how this could happen. All I can come up with is these types of claims have been made by racists (German Nazis, Italian fascists, Japanese fascists, white slave-owners) throughout history.
With people like Pu pushing your policies by resorting to racism, you are going to need a lot of help.
David Chiu
Canada
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