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`Diplomatic conscript' veterans praise program

Many of the conscripts who worked in the diplomatic arena overseas as an alternative way of performing their compulsory military service gave a thumbs-up yesterday to the government's "diplomatic service" option.

They said the option, is a "win-win" policy benefiting both the nation and the individual. The program was initiated two years ago after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) directed the government to allow conscripts the option of performing their mandatory service overseas during a trip to Latin America.

Ou Wen-kai (歐文凱), one of the three "conscript-diplomatic workers" performing his mandatory service in Chad, completed his two year tour and returned to Taiwan in June. He was one of the first Taiwanese to perform this alternative form of service.

Ou said he and the other two conscripts consider themselves lucky to have had the opportunity to meet Chen in Chad when the president visited the country in July last year.

When they met, Chen asked them about their work in Chad and how they were adapting to life in Africa. He exhorted them to first take good care of themselves before taking care of others, according to Ou.

Ou, with a background in agronomy, worked in a Taiwanese agro-tech aid mission.

"I've not only honed my language skills over the past two years, but I've also learned a lot about diplomacy," Ou said.

He added that his work experience in Africa helped him to pass the tests given by the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) which he took shortly after returning from Chad.

Lien Chia-en (連加恩), who also performed his alternative service in Africa, lauded the "diplomatic service" option as a "very good" policy.

Lien, a medical school graduate and probably the most famous conscript because of media coverage of his work in Burkina Faso, said that if he had not spent the last two years in that country he would at most have been just an ordinary doctor in the military.

But after serving for more than two years, Lien said, he now knows the world and its peoples better, adding that he has also developed a deeper perspective of Taiwan's diplomatic situation and prospects.
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