David on Formosa

This recent letter in the Taipei Times highlights the injustice of the recent deportation of some English teachers. There is some more background on the issue in this thread at Forumosa.

The following quote is taken from the letter.

Recently a number of deportation letters have gone out to teachers. These letters give people 14 days in which to pack their bags and permanently leave the country. These people are not criminals and have never broken the law in Taiwan or their home country. They are good, honest people who are here in Taiwan because they love this country and its people.

The majority of these teachers are being deported for alleged substitute teaching at a school not listed on their work permit (ARC). There is no trial, no jury — just immediate deportation.

Of course technically speaking these foreigners were breaking the law, but the incidents reveal the unfair nature of the laws applying to foreign workers and the unethical manner in which government officers enforce these laws.

I think if a foreigner tries to get a work permit with a fake degree or doesn’t bother to get a work permit at all then they deserve to suffer the full extent of the law. However, someone who is basically law abiding and has obtained a work permit should be able to work a few extra hours at another school without fear of being deported.

The Thai workers protest a few months back should have bought about reforms in the labour laws. Instead there were a few ritual resignations of key officials and now it is just same old, same old. This story from POTS Extra tells of the abuse of Filipino workers. Please note, this happened after the Thai workers protest. The need for reform is obvious, but there appears to be no political will to do it.