A local borough warden running for the Kaohsiung City Council has come under fire over a billboard showing a “no” symbol over images of an Indian flag and a turbaned man, which he said was intended to oppose a policy to admit migrant workers from India.
The billboard was put up by Lee Hung-yi (李紘毅), the Gangming Borough (港明) warden in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港), who is running as an independent in November’s city council election, despite being a member of the Taiwan People’s Party.
A post circulating on social media on Tuesday written by someone describing themselves as an Indian who has lived in Taiwan for many years, said the candidate’s advertising was “blatant and direct racial discrimination,” making the poster feel deeply uncomfortable.
Photo from the Mumbai Spring and Autumn Facebook page
“I can respect that everyone has different views on migrant worker policy. You don’t want Taiwan to open up to migrant workers — that is your political stance. But expressing it in this way really doesn’t seem right,” the social media post read.
The post went on to say that the ads seemed less about debating policy, and more about using physical traits and cultural symbols to incite resentment toward specific groups.
Lee yesterday told reporters that he was not opposed to migrant workers in general, but he opposed the policy to admit migrant workers from India.
The policy to open up to Indian migrant workers lacked adequate supporting measures and management regulations, which was “concerning,” he said, without elaborating.
Taiwan could bring in an initial 1,000 Indian workers as early as this year to work in the manufacturing, agriculture and caregiving sectors, Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) told lawmakers early last month.
Taipei and New Delhi were still working out administrative procedures, document verification and health checks, he said.
Wang Yi-heng (王憶恆), head of the New Power Party’s Kaohsiung chapter, condemned Lee, saying that it was “utterly ignorant” to place “no” symbols — a red circle with a diagonal line through it — over the Indian flag as well as a cultural symbol, the turban, which represents faith and dignity.
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