I'm a ramblin' man
I agree with Scott Ezell (Letter, June 16, page 8) and Max Woodworth's article ("Singing the deportation blues," June 20, page 17) that the legal process in the Foreign Affairs Police is terribly draconian, and believe that I, as well as many foreigners living in Taiwan, have stories to tell regarding it.
Learning of Ezell's predicament really hit me in the solar plexus, as recently I discovered a new angle to use in my teaching: I play a guitar to my students and then ask them to learn new English songs, or to dust off ones they already know, to help break the ice and get them to sing out as a habit not just for language-learning abilities but also for addressing composure, shyness barriers and reluctance to speak. I assign them a final project in which they have to perform (and accompany with instrument) any song in English that moves them enough to want to share it with the rest of us.
I feel that performing music is a personal choice; a basic freedom of speech that need not be regulated.
Notwithstanding, I still feel it would be better not to put the blame on the Foreign Affairs Police officers for what happened to Ezell. Officers that I have known have told me they have a fairly stressful job, with foreigners coming in off the streets every day, annoyed with personal circumstances that they think are the police's fault, and that they expect the police to solve. Their job is really just to enforce the law.
Arguing with the police, grilling one minor official in a newspaper or subsequently dragging him over the carpet for doing his job isn't going to change things a bit, and may even make things harder for the rest of us.
If the police didn't do their jobs, they would be replaced by others more willing. So it makes things hard when people try to get them to bend the rules, because they can't. The Foreign Affairs Police are there mostly to count the days people have stayed and tell them what they probably already know, or in Ezell's case, to enforce new rules that the police have no say in making.
The problem really boils down to foreign workers not petitioning the government against passing such laws, including the new law in which Alien Resident Certificate are handled by the Department of Labor instead of the Department of Education. I know a few Taiwanese who have signed a petition against this new law, but have yet to meet a foreigner who has. Living in Taiwan, it isn't easy to be endeared of my fellow foreigners for such behavior. In that regard, it's a surprise that some locals actually fight for us.
I feel Woodworth's article pointed this out somewhat, without realizing it.
The real problem boils down to how foreigners regard each other, and their willingness to stick together in opposing such unpleasantness.
Most foreigners, including perhaps Ezell, have the crass uncanny habit of viewing their success in Taiwan in terms of a job, visas or other great blessings by locals like acceptance, love, or a place to live, as their own personal show they must protect, like a mother bear would her cubs.
Instead of learning from the locals' generosity and thus becoming more generous in dealings with the world, or especially with each other, most of us just jealously protect our assets.
We think we know it all, but, in fact we are not looking at the whole picture. The fact the locals even let us stay here to begin with is a blessing, and Taitung Foreign Affairs Police officer Peter Chen (
If someone felt Ezell was getting a little big for his boots, which he probably was, then he was making himself into a target. Anytime someone gripes about milk already spilled, it shows they are not taking personal responsibility for their actions.
By taking responsibility, I mean admitting it was entirely your fault, regardless if it is really your fault or not. Even if it's a building cornice falling on your head, if you don't take full responsibility, then you'll never get enough closure to muster the energy needed to solve the problems you face.
Just take your lumps and go out and do what you need to do. If your landlord or Taiwan Colors Music forget you, then they weren't right to begin with, and it's a blessing to learn.
If they stand by you, then you've lost nothing at all.
John Schneidhorst
Kaohsiung
We don't need racists
This last week we learned of the pending deportation of Scott Ezell for the "brazen violation" of the terms of his work permit by playing his guitar at a cultural activity. Does this apply to foreign teachers at school concerts?
Scott Ezell claims that he was misled into signing a statement that was the basis of the Council of Labor Affairs' decision to revoke his work permit. If these claims are correct, that is serious. The police aren't above the law and due process must be followed.
Foreign Affairs Police Officer Peter Chen is the man who is "enforcing the law" in this case. To quote him: "If you're going to try to skirt the law in my jurisdiction, I'm going to follow you to the end."
That quote sounds like it was uttered by an angry sheriff in an old cowboy movie, hardly the appropriate tone of language for a Foreign Affairs Police Officer dealing largely with members of the international community, who he is required to help and assist or, when the need arises, legally investigate their crimes.
It is disturbing that a Foreign Affairs Police officer -- who should know better -- can state that "Americans in Taiwan think they don't have to follow the law. They never think whether what they've done is right or wrong," can still be involved in this case and not on suspension pending an investigation by the department for a brazen violation of his department's code of conduct.
The quote by Chen is racist and demeaning. There are thousands of law-abiding Americans who visit and work in Taiwan. This quote clearly shows that this officer is prejudiced.
How can an officer with such an attitude possibly objectively investigate any case involving an American or any other foreign national?
Mark Wilkie
Yunlin County
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