Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Thursday sought to assuage controversy over remarks he made about Filipino white-collar workers, saying that Taiwanese parents would need time to accept Philippine English teachers.
At a meeting of the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce in Taipei on Wednesday, Han said he feared that hiring educated employees from the Philippines “would cause a psychological shock for Taiwanese, because [they might wonder]: How come our ‘Maria’ has become a teacher?”
The term “Maria” is a slur widely used in Taiwan to refer to migrant workers, especially those working as a caregivers.
Photo: CNA
Han made the remark after a participant said that Kaohsiung’s lack of highly educated workers is the city’s biggest problem, especially middle and top-tier professionals who speak English and are internationally mobile.
The mayor should cooperate with the national government and local enterprises to bring in white-collar, English-speaking workers from the Philippines, the participant said.
Kaohsiung already has many highly educated residents, but the problem is a high outflow rate, at about 74 percent, Han said, adding that his administration has added NT$27 million (US$873,730) to the city’s original budget of NT$20 million for the implementation of bilingual education.
“This [pushing for bilingual education] is not easy due to the rural-urban disparity and the difficulty in finding foreign teachers,” he said, adding that Taiwan could learn from the Philippines, but parents must first be “mentally prepared.”
Han’s remarks drew an immediate backlash from netizens, who accused the mayor of discriminating against Filipinos.
A person’s value is not determined by their skin color, weight, appearance, gender, sexual orientation, occupation or nationality, said Chou Juo-chen (周若珍), a Japanese teacher.
The majority of Southeast Asian workers in Taiwan are employed in labor-intensive industries, but that does not mean that their countries do not have highly educated professionals, Chou said, calling Han’s comments “discriminatory and ignorant.”
In an attempt to assuage public criticism on Thursday, Han said that his comments were not meant to discriminate against Filipinos.
“We just have to figure out a way to mentally prepare the parents and [explain to them] why we do not look to the US or the UK” for English teachers, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said on Facebook that the real problem is not “why Maria has become a teacher,” but rather that Taiwanese only want “cheap white-collar employees” from the Philippines.
“What the bosses care about is not professionalism, but low prices,” Lin said, adding that Taiwanese businesspeople have gone from asking for cheap blue-collar workers to cheap white-collar workers.
Foreigners “employed in specialized and technical” work and teaching jobs must earn at least NT$47,971 per month to qualify for a work permit, with some exceptions, the Workforce Development Agency says on its Web site.
The minimum monthly wage for Taiwanese is NT$23,100.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS