Today's column starts with another missionary, this time one who was in Taiwan for most of her life and who devoted herself to the welfare of people the government would have otherwise let rot.
Originally from the US, Joyce McMillan (
A nurse by training, the widowed McMillan first came to Taiwan in 1959, and soon after began providing medical expertise and proselytizing in the Puli (埔里) area of Nantou County. In 1970 she founded a center for the treatment of children with polio in Erlin Township (二林), Changhua County, named after her and for which she is best known.
Fast forward to the last few years. In 2005 President Chen Shui-bian (
If you ask me, it was the sight of invalid foreigners of impeccable character stuck in convalescent homes -- because they have no other home -- without even the meager welfare benefits that come with residency, that resulted in the government having a damn good look at its residency laws.
Somewhere, amid all the buffoonery and smugness, a conscience was pricked.
Good thing McMillan was white. More on that in a moment.
McMillan was the kind of person who would bring other Taiwanese to say humble things like: "To see you, a foreigner, showing such care for us Taiwanese, fills me with shame that we do not do more ourselves."
Judging from descriptions of McMillan, she was the kind of angel who would respond: "Stuff and nonsense. We're all God's children. Replace your shame with love."
But her whiteness (and church connections) in the end helped in some small way to make the government think twice about treating "foreigners" like transients. That, and the fact that she was fined a large amount of money and ordered out of the country in her late 80s because of a visa violation (possibly because of her ailing memory) -- a debacle so shameful for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government that a door opened. After some lobbying, McMillan was awarded permanent residency on the basis of her "special contribution" to the nation.
By 2005, McMillan was suffering from various ailments, most notably dementia. But this time there was no chance she would be deported again, which meant she could die in peace in Taiwan -- her home.
With those changes came more progressive rules for ordinary foreigners (by "ordinary" I mean those who aren't miracle workers). A person legally working in the country for five years can now obtain permanent residency, which is reasonable.
But even so, it helps immeasurably to be white. Why? Ask a Filipina.
Under this DPP government, like the KMT ones before, blue collar workers -- largely from Southeast Asia -- are treated like oxen and follow separate rules relating to everything from wages to living conditions.
Some of the DPP's leading lights have a very poor record indeed on rights for migrant workers. Forget Annette ("I'll teach that fraud Ding Ling (丁玲) a thing or two") Lu; I'm talking about Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who did precious little to protect migrants from exploitation when she headed the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA). Her successor, Chairman Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), last year seriously considered eviscerating the minimum (and minimal) wage for blue collar laborers from Countries Not As Rich As Us.
Just goes to show that, like that red baron Shih Ming-teh (
But back to the matter at hand. Enter DPP legislative caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男).
On Monday, Wang attended a meeting of the legislature's Home and Nations Committee, and said that the residency law should be amended because blue collar workers can stay up to six years, which might allow them to apply for it. The loophole, he said, should be closed. That is to say: "We don't want your dusky asses in our country unless you're under curfew and cleaning up baby vomit or pushing a geriatric vegetable along the street."
Now this guy is something of a Taiwanese independence "long marcher," having served 13 years of a life sentence for sending a letter bomb in 1976 to provincial governor Hsieh Tung-min (謝東閔) and two other KMT officials, seriously injuring Hsieh. Now he's a DPP mainstay, and one of the prime movers behind the shutting down of the party's faction system.
And Wang hails from Tainan, which has a special currency, being the spiritual center of Taiwanese cultural identity -- well, people from Tainan seem to think so, anyway.
Old Johnny says you have to respect someone who puts himself on the line for what he believes in, especially if it's for Taiwan's sake. You really do. Until, that is, that someone makes what amounts to a racist attack on the least empowered people in the country. The same people who do all the dirty work as the man of the house screws around with lamei (辣妹) at the KTV with his drunkard buddies.
Wang is the same guy who made an ass of himself by calling for the deportation of that Associated Press reporter who quoted Beijing's unflattering descriptions of Annette Lu. For those not familiar with Wang Sing-nan, this little incident should be warning enough of the boorish, extremist tendencies that afflict senior legislators on both sides of the divide.
But while we're on the subject of boors, here's a choice quote from the Taipei Times way back in 2000, when Wang was asked to comment on female legislators roughing each other up:
"Most female legislators are in fact very tough, but they always take advantage of their feminist traits and sometimes go too far ... I don't even get close to female lawmakers for fear that other misunderstandings or problems could arise. I am very afraid to."
Dear reader, can you sense that Wang is not exactly your sensitive new-age Taiwanese guy? To me, he's more a man's man. You know, the kind of fella who, when not posting letter bombs and recommending chemical castration for sex criminals, takes a knife and slits the bejeezus out of the throat of that wild pig he's eyeing for dinner as wifey prepares the soup.
Yet Wang is what the DPP needs: a committed independence supporter who comes out blazing. He certainly wasn't afraid to turn on former president Lee Teng-hui (
And from a political angle, I can understand why he targets brides from China -- even if his enthusiasm for the task is a little disturbing.
But shunting Southeast Asians beneath whites in a hierarchy of racial worthiness? What's up with that? Is there no one left in the DPP who finds this unsettling?
Memo to Wang Sing-nan: You don't have to be an ugly bigot to be a champion of Taiwanese independence. But in your case, apparently, it's too late. Don't expect me to be surprised if I discover you're an investor in the labor broker Flips "R" Us.
The DPP has spent a lot of time (a few minutes, maybe) wringing its hands over KMT accusations that it is a party for Hoklo supremacists. So I'm sure KMT strategists have noted Wang's outbursts of bigotry and stored them away for future use. Problem is, there's not a very big market in this country for Filipina advocacy. So only KMT Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩), who has helped Filipinas in the past, will have any use for it, but who will listen to her? (DPP mixed-blood Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is too busy worrying about animal rights and casting her next Charlie's Angel to bother about caregivers.)
Presumably one day Wang would like to be in a position of such omnipotence that he could waltz into a nursing home, pick out the most decrepit white "foreigner" he can see, take lots of photos and declare him or her an "authentic Taiwanese." Thank you press, thank you ladies and gentlemen, behold me: The Man Who Dubs Thee Local.
But, me old Wangker, the fact is this: There are hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asian women here who already qualify for residency and citizenship because they married Taiwanese.
And they're here to stay.
As for the rest -- be they caregivers, maids, housekeepers, bar girls, white collar professionals, convicts, runaways or prostitutes -- each and every one has had a more honorable career than you and your gutless buddies will ever patch together.
Heard or read something particularly objectionable about Taiwan? Johnny wants to know: dearjohnny@taipeitimes.com is the place to reach me, with "Dear Johnny" in the subject line.
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