Holding up signs that read “Say No to Forced Eating of Pork” and shouting slogans such as “Not eating pork is my freedom” and “Religious freedom, basic rights,” dozens of foreign workers yesterday protested their lack of religious freedom in a demonstration in front of the Bureau of Consular Affairs in Taipei.
Led by the Taiwan International Workers’ Association (TIWA), the protesters hoped to draw attention to social problems following the recent indictment of a Taiwanese employer who forced Indonesian Muslim workers to eat pork.
Chang Wen-ling (張雯琳), wife of Shin Hua Hang Fashion Co’s owner, was recently charged with forcing three Indonesian workers who had been hired as caregivers to eat pork and work long hours in a factory for seven months. The case prompted condemnation from Jakarta, which urged Taiwan to pay attention to foreign workers’ rights.
One of the protesters, Tiwi, an Indonesian Muslim caregiver who has been in Taiwan for more than seven years and worked for three different employers, yesterday said that all of her employers have tried to convince her to eat pork and did not respect her religious practices.
“Whenever we eat together, my boss tells me, ‘Even if you eat pork, your Allah will still love you,’ but I always politely tell my boss: ‘Thank you, boss, but I can’t eat pork,’” she said.
Tiwi and the other workers said their employers wanted them to eat pork so they would have more energy to work, but said they wished their employers and the rest of society would hear their pleas for religious freedom and not pressure them to do things that their religion prohibits.
“Many people in Taiwan don’t eat beef because of religious beliefs. How would you feel if someone forced you to eat beef?” she asked. “When we eat pork, our hearts are filled with guilt.”
Yohana, an Indonesian Muslim caregiver who has worked in Taiwan for eight years, said that in addition to being forced to eat pork, she was ordered to sign a contract that required her to take care of dogs, or be sent back to Indonesia.
For a majority of Muslims, taking care of dogs is against their religious beliefs because dogs are considered unclean.
TIWA chairperson Ku Yu-ling (顧玉玲) said the root of the problem lay in the government repeatedly delaying including migrant caregivers under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) to protect their basic working rights.
As a result, caregivers are often forced to put up with poor working conditions, such as doing things that are against their religious beliefs or working for long periods of time with no days off or adequate time to rest.
“We need to establish legislation to prevent such cases from happening in the future and to encourage employers and migrant workers to have mutual respect for each other’s cultures,” Ku said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all