Taiwan: Land of Dreams and Tears
by Fr Bruno Ciceri
THE phenomenon of Asian labour migration to Taiwan is quite recent. Though foreign workers started coming in the early 1980s, it was only in 1992 that the government's labour import policy was put it place. Among the first workers were Filipinos, Indonesians and Thais. In 2001, Vietnamese migrants started to join the workforce.
These foreign workers fill the manpower shortage in the face of the country's industrialisation, and also because the locals do not want to do the so-called 3-D jobs -- dirty, dangerous and demeaning.
The categories of blue-collar workers allowed to enter are: 1) caretaker, 2) domestic helper, 3) factory worker, 4) construction worker, 5) fishermen.
The number of foreign workers has been growing steadily from 270,000 in 1998 to over 300,000 in 2002. But their numbers according to nationality are fluctuating because of a ban which the government uses whenever its relationship with a sending country turns sour. The labour policy is not dictated by market forces but by political reasons.
In the past, the Filipino government intervened in a very remarkable way to protect the rights of Filipino domestic helpers and care-takers, "forcing" the brokers to switch to Indonesians who were lacking the support system from their government and NGOs.
THE REALITY
Migrants, when they arrive in Taiwan, are a bit lost and afraid because of the unfamiliar environment, although they are also excited because it is a dream-come-true for them. But this initial enthusiasm is deflated as soon as they start work.
Contract workers in factories live in dormitories and have therefore a support system among themselves. Domestic workers and care-takers live with their employees.
Though most are generally accepted by the families, and have relative freedom, there are some who are treated more like commodities: they have no freedom to interact with others, and are isolated. These people are candidate for mental breakdown, and in some cases, suicide.
The Catholic church in Taiwan is more a venue for social activities rather than religious ones for FiIipinos, who are predominantly Catholic as they need a place to unwind, meet new friends and find out about what's happening around them. It is a point reference not only for FiIipinos but for all other nationalities.
Most of the workers in Taiwan are female (55 percent), in their most productive years, although it is difficult to determine their real ages as there are cases where workers come into Taiwan on falsified documents.
Why do these workers come to Taiwan? I have come to realise that it is not necessarily economic reasons that make them migrate. Some come for adventure, others escape from problems back home. Others are 'old migrants' who have worked in several countries and returned home but could not readjust to their old lifestyles.
The new environment workers find themselves in gives them the freedom to do what they normally would not do back home as there are no more social controls. In other words, no more inhibitions, no more taboos. The worker is just one of the thousands.
The anonymity and the fact that many return to Taiwan bearing false identities put workers in a situation that make them prone to risky behaviour. In Taiwan, everyone is single. That means married people get into illicit relationships, including lesbian and homosexual relationships.
Heterosexual relationships among workers sometimes result in pregnancy, which is unwelcome and prohibited under their work contracts. This leads to abortion.
Then there are also the 'foreign brides' in or women who are brought in as wives for local men is a common practice in Taiwan but has grown in magnitude over the last 15 to 20 years. The first wave of foreign brides was from the Philippines, followed by those from Indonesia and Thailand. Now, the Vietnamese are coming into the trade.
These women are procured through an agency by men from the low-income bracket, with physical or mental handicap with an addiction to either alcohol or drugs who cannot get a local woman for a wife.
Cultural differences, lack of love, language barrier often make these marriages doomed from the beginning.
(*Excerpts from a paper presented by Fr Ciceri, director of the Stella Maris International Service Centre in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, at the 'On the Asian Migration Trail' seminar in Bangkok, Feb 13-15, 2003.)
