“New immigrants” — a term generally used to describe people from China and Southeast Asia who have married into Taiwanese families over the past two decades — are becoming increasingly political and their votes are being wooed by the nation’s major political parties.
One politically active new immigrant is Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator-at-large nominee Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲).
Lo, 50, is a third-generation Malaysian-Chinese who came to Taiwan in 1987 to study at National Taiwan Normal University. She later married a Taiwanese.
In 2014, she was elected as an independent to the Nantou County Council, and was successfully re-elected in 2018 as a member of the DPP.
Her main focus in politics has been new immigrants and long-term care for elderly people.
As a legislator, she would first want to evaluate how current policies affecting new immigrants are being carried out at the local level, instead of introducing new policies, Lo said.
“As a local councilor, I have noticed that it is impossible for local governments to perfectly execute every single central government policy. Sometimes, there is a huge gap between the central and local governments, so it is important to first determine to what extent policies are being implemented,” she said.
“In my opinion, it is more realistic to try to improve current policies and ensure that they are being carried out than it is to continuously roll out new policies,” she said, adding that she also wants the government to set up a council for new immigrant affairs.
Another politically active new immigrant is Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-at-large nominee Niu Chun-ju (牛春茹).
The 59-year-old graduated from Baotou Medical College in Inner Mongolia before working for Taiwanese firms in Shenzhen, China.
In 2000, Niu married a Taiwanese and relocated here, receiving her Republic of China (ROC) citizenship in 2009. That same year, she joined the KMT and in January last year established an association for new immigrants.
As a legislator, she hopes to reduce the waiting period from 10 years to five years for new immigrants who hold ROC citizenship and wish to run for public office, Niu said.
Aside from pushing for an emergency fund to help new immigrants who contract illnesses not covered by the National Health Insurance system, Niu said that she also wants to set up a council for new immigrant affairs.
“There are 550,000 Aborigines, but about 1 million new immigrants and their children. So I think new immigrants should be represented in the government just as Aborigines are represented by the Council of Indigenous Peoples,” she said.
Taiwan People’s Party legislative candidate Kimyung Keng (何景榮), 41, is a second-generation immigrant of a Taiwanese father and an Indonesian mother.
Born in Jakarta and raised in Taiwan, he was educated in the US on scholarship programs offered by the Taiwanese and US governments. Keng was selected as a 2016 Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Taiwan.
As a legislator for Taipei’s third electoral district, he would focus on two major policies: improving young people’s quality of life by making it easier for them to pay off student loans and by providing housing for them, Keng said.
“I will push for all operations at Taipei International Airport [Songshan airport] to be moved to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, and use the vacated land to build public housing for young people. This would be a win-win solution, because the Songshan airport poses a danger to area residents, as shown by the February 2015 plane crash,” he said.
“I will bring the world to Taiwan, using new immigrants and migrant workers as the medium,” Keng added.
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