Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-jun (馬文君) yesterday accused Ambassador to Palau Maggie Tien (田台清) of physically abusing her former Indonesian housekeeper, who has since returned to her home country.
Ma made the allegations at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, but only provided scant information.
Ma asked the ministry to look into the case before the authorities in Palau decide to intervene, as the US did in the case of Jacqueline Liu (劉姍姍), former director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Kansas City, Missouri, who was arrested by FBI agents on charges of labor contract fraud and the mistreatment of her two Filipino housekeepers. Liu was convicted in the US before returning to Taipei.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) and James Tien (田中光), director-general of the ministry’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, were unaware of the allegations against Maggie Tien when asked about them at the meeting.
Ma later said by telephone that she had been told by a Taiwanese businessperson based in Palau that the housekeeper suffered abuse and had a medical certificate listing the injuries she allegedly suffered at the hands of Maggie Tien.
Maggie Tien was also accused of being involved in other irregularities, Ma said, but she did not specify the problems. Ma said she knew no more details about the abuse case and she has not yet received a copy of the medical record.
Ministry spokesperson Steve Hsia (夏季昌) said that the ministry has contacted Maggie Tien and demanded a response to the allegation.
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