TVBS’ local news channel is facing accusations of racism after broadcasting a story saying that the rising number of Filipino workers in Taiwan has sparked public concern about quality of life, while urging the government to better “manage” foreign workers.
The televised report says that as more “foreign workers with darker skin” come to Taiwan, many people are worried that they might bring down the quality of life in the nation.
A Taiwanese woman interviewed by the TV station said that has caused her to start worrying about safety and sanitation in the country.
“There are differences in customs between the citizens of this country and foreigners, especially in terms of habits and daily life,” the woman said in the video. “When they [foreign workers] gather, we think there’s a safety problem there, and well, they don’t pay much attention to sanitation when it comes to keeping a place clean.”
National Taiwan University student Lo Kuan-hua (駱冠華), who has participated in working holidays in Australia, accused TVBS of being racist.
Lo said that he had worked on a farm, as a cleaner and as a dishwasher in Australia.
“It would be completely unacceptable for someone to say that I’m more likely to be a criminal because I take on low-paying jobs and live at the bottom of society,” he wrote on Facebook.
Lo said there is nothing wrong with foreign workers in Taiwan gathering together with their compatriots.
“Having a so-called international perspective means understanding that people of different ethnicities and skin color are people like us. They may think and feel differently from us, but they also laugh, cry and get angry like us,” Lo said. “It is not getting together with only Caucasians who speak fluent English, while ignoring those from Southeast Asia around us.”
Lo filed a complaint with the National Communications Commission, asking it to do something about the TV report.
Taiwan International Workers’ Association policy researcher Chen Hsiu-lien (陳秀蓮) also condemned TVBS for the report, saying that it is actually the foreign workers who help to maintain the quality of life in Taiwan.
“If you think foreign workers would lower your quality of life, why don’t you ask the government to expel them all from the country?” she said. “When they’re all out of the country, you will discover what bad quality of life is, because there will be no one to do the jobs that nobody wants to do, or to look after the elderly so that people may go out to work without having to worry.”
TVBS posted a revised version of the report online at 6:41pm yesterday.
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