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Johnny Neihu's Mailbag

Saturday, Dec 09, 2006, Page 8

Full-body quotables

Dear Johnny,
Thanks for going "the whole nine yards" to run down the absurdity of the chosen quotables in the New York Times article on Taiwan ("Mr Pulitzer grabs you by the quote," Dec. 2, page 8).

In my reading, you've scored yet another touchdown there. Too bad, however, that Taiwanese political life has no discernable rules, unlike football. Still, they are indeed both violent, full-body contact games, aren't they?

Erick Heroux
Assistant Professor of English
National Chengchi University

Dear Johnny,
I happen to agree with Emile Sheng's words about Taiwan's democracy.

It was humiliating that people would take to the streets to try and depose the president based on talkshow accusations and media hype without the results of an independent investigation.

But it was downright disgraceful when the upper crust of the campaign acted like a bunch of monkeys trying to embarrass the president by disrupting National Day celebrations. And Sheng represents Taiwan's institutions of higher learning?

Speaking of disgraceful...

Allen Roth
Taipei

Johnny replies: Yeah, I wonder what would happen if someone accidentally contacted Soochow University's ethics committee to see if it is aware of Sheng's tendency to mix advocacy with science and then not tell anyone. Hang on -- does Soochow actually have one?

Permit me to differ, part II

Dear Johnny,
After having read the "Permit me to differ" letter (Johnny Neihu's Mailbag, Nov. 25, page 8), I would like to bring your attention to what is, to the best of my knowledge, the situation since May 2003 in relation to work permits for foreigners who are married to a Taiwanese citizen and where this marriage is registered.

Once you have this status, you do not need a work permit. This can be found in the Employment Services Act, Article 48, the first paragraph of which states:

"Prior to employing Foreign Worker to engage in work, Employer shall apply to the Central Competent Authority for Employment Permit with relevant documents submitted. However, such a requirement of Employment Permit is exempted where the Foreign Worker in question is to be employed as counsel or researcher by the respective governmental organs or their subordinate academic research institutes, or the Foreign Worker in question has been married to a Republic of China national with a registered permanent residence in the territory of the Republic of China and has been permitted to stay therein."

I could be wrong, or perhaps the law has changed again, but this change has apparently not been updated on the Web site of the Council of Labor Affairs. So, the way I see it, there is absolutely no reason to apply for a work permit and you can work wherever you want -- you could even join the army of street vendors.

Tony van der Made
Sijhih

Johnny replies: Phew. Well, if the Council of Labor Affairs' Web site can't tell you what's what, then what hope is there?The good news, then, is that your average construction worker and English teacher can pick up a scalpel and order nurses around -- as long as he or she has a spouse with a Taiwanese passport. Cool.
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