Every Sunday, when I went to the railway station in Chung-Li, I found an
interesting phenomenon--there were a large group of foreign labors
gathering in front of the station, and they seemed to be enjoying
themselves very much. They talked in English with a heavy accent and
most Taiwanese people would find it hard to understand and catch up with
their speed. I almost felt that I was in Southeast Asia instead of in
Taiwan. I noticed that many "couples" were together talking about
things, which made a very sweet scene. Most of them had come here for
the purpose of making money. They believed that Taiwan is the "heaven"
and it would bring them better future financially. Nevertheless, they
were faced with this cruel prejudice: most Taiwanese people looked down
upon them.
Since the foreign workers came here to earn money on menial jobs, the
Taiwanese people treated them as if they didn't need basic human rights.
And because of their darker complexion, it's easily to link them to bad
guys or to view them as those who would commit crimes. And sometimes
when they went into a store, the owner usually ignored their existence
or thought that they could not afford to buy something. Some schools
even warned students not to get too close to the foreign labors on the
construction site in the neighborhood. I guess they must relate those
male foreign labors to potential rapists. I remember once I had a friend
who wanted to buy a bottle of perfume. And when the sales girl told her
that the smell of this perfume was quite popular among the foreign
labors, my friend changed her mind immediately. In all of these
examples, it is clear that Taiwanese people do have bias against the
foreign labors. I guess the reason is because we lack the motive to know
them better.
We,
Taiwanese people, tend to put ourselves in the center of the world.
Thus, when encountering people from less developed countries, we show
prejudice against them. We always complain that some job opportunities
were occupied by the foreign labors and the economy of our country would
flow out of Taiwan. But were it not for the foreign labors in Taiwan,
many important constructions could not have been completed. And since
some local labors didn't want to do certain kinds of jobs which they
thought were too tiring, and some local labors always ask for increase
in salaries, no wonder many owners would rather hire and import foreign
labors.
In
actuality, foreign labors have made important contributions to the
economy of Taiwan. Besides, they buy lots of things and it would revive
a portion of our economy at present. If we treat them with decency, they
would even spread our good name when they return home. Therefore, we
should correct our prejudice against them and deal with them as we deal
with our own countrymen. After all, if we want to promote peace among
all nations in the world, we should do it within our country first.