Discrimination against migrant workers from Southeast Asia is standard in Taiwan. You only have to hear people talking about immigrants from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines to realise just how blatantly racist people are here. I’ve heard people talking about how they look “dirty” and “ugly” and how they might be thieves or criminals. The latter claim is hilarious: I’d be willing to bet that the number of crimes done by these immigrants is almost zero. People come here to make some dough to send back home to their fams. They just want to put their heads down, slog away and, eventually (when they’ve paid off their scummy agents which from what I’ve heard takes at least a year’s worth of wages) get the fuck out. They have a hard enough time without thinking about a sideline in crime.
But some of these deceitful “wailao” as I think Taiwanese call them (it means something like “foreign labourer”, have sidelines in other stuff and it is the duty of the Taiwanese media to report on these scoundrels. This, for want of a better word, “report” here from the woeful Want Want Times that has been circulating on Facebook details the case of an immigrant making money on the side with an Internet business.
Let’s leave aside the killer payoff near the end that admits “there is no clear ruling on whether selling goods online violates such conditions” and thus confirms that the racist puke that we’ve just been reading is actually a complete non-story. The fact is, this disgusting “piece” is nothing more than excuse to start abusing and demonising migrant workers. Let’s also examine the “facts”. The article claims of this sly wench that “her former employer found out through her mobile phone records that she was able to make up to NT$60,000 (US$1,900) extra money a month, more than twice her official pay, by buying and selling things online.”
Anyone see anything odd here? Firstly, just off the bat, 60K sounds like complete bollocks to me. If that was true why did she just do one, disappearing as the article claims like a thief in the night? If she was bringing in that kind of coin undetected, why no keep it up for as long as possible? There is no indication that her employer was on to her. Which, leads to the next thing. How the fuck was she able to “operate her business during her employer’s absence during the day, when she would have logistic companies deliver and ship all sorts of goods through the lobby of her employer’s building”? I don’t care if the guy wasn’t around, or the person she was (presumably) looking after was too senile to know or remember, are you telling me NO ONE clocked these shenanigans? This is Taiwan, where nosy neigbours or all up in your shit like bluebottles. Pleeeease. And as for the eventual discovery … phone records? What the fuck kind of explanation is that? That’s IT? The guy found out from her “phone records”? Were they all to logistics companies? Did he phone them all and confirm that she was having stuff shipped to his address? Did he them follow up the other calls and discover they were to the people she was selling to? Obviously, we don’t have or need the answers to those questions. We are assured that he proved it by the “phone records” which is obviously enough to have her up in front of the firing squad for the average unquestioning Taiwanese reader.
All this crap reporting and suspicious presentation of the facts, though, pales into insignificance in the face of the conclusion of this first “case”, which our intrepid reporter ends by informing us “the manager said nothing was missing from the house after the helper disappeared.” It’s hard to think of a more blatantly, revoltingly racist way to bring this whole sorry story to and end. Why on earth would you need to add that line. I’ve no idea. Oh wait, yes I do. We need an obvious plot device to move us onto the next example of forrin wrongdoery. “Another former employer of a foreign domestic helper,” we are told “was not so lucky” as the person in the first case. (Note how that first person is “lucky”. You’re lucky if you don’t get robbed by these dirty South Easterners. Even though the bitch was earning well over the national average wage on the side from something that it turns out wasn’t even illegal, you are lucky that she didn’t steal from you).
This second poor Laoban told reporters “he found several electric home appliances and goods missing from his home after she disappeared. After tracing her computer browsing history, he found that his belongings including clothes, blankets and a bread toaster among others items had been sold on used goods trading websites.” Blankets? Seriously? You can find that kind of crap at the side of any street on any given day in Taipei. People are seriously going to buy crummy secondhand blankets online? Also, note again, how he was able to detect her evil ways through “checking records”. Again, there are some very obvious red flags here. I happened to date an Indonesian girl here and know some Filipinas. Many of them quickly pick up the the local lingo and some become pretty fluent in no time at all. But few that I have heard of who are working as domestic helpers learn to read and write Chinese characters to a high level. Where exactly was this girl advertising her stolen goods? It’s virtually impossible on local sites unless you read and write Chinese or have someone to help you. Don’t tell me … it was on Tealit or Forumosa? Or maybe a Bahasa or Tagalog language site? I’m sure, polyglot that he is, Laoban would have been able to navigate that one no probs. Again, I smell pungent BS here.
Next there is the guy who says he discovered a girl he employed to look after an elderly relative “had been trying to make extra money through prostitution during the three hours it took for the hospital visit” by nipping up while the oldster was having treatment. Of course. Not only are they thieves. They’re whores as well. Once more, we are given no clue as to how this revelation came about. Did he follow her? Otherwise how the fuck does he know what she was up to? Or perhaps laoban just happened to be in the areas where these activities take place and bumped into the shameless tart? Who knows …?
Finally, this brilliant bit of journalism ends on a heart-warming note, when we are told by one kind Laoban that “it is important to build a relationship with a domestic helper and give them little gifts from time to time to express one’s gratitude so that they also feel part of the family.” Yes, they’re a simple lot these South Easterners. Give em a few trinkets and they’ll be less likely to thieve from you and sell themselves on the nearest street corner. Seriously, is it any wonder than so many people hold at the worst completely racist and, at best, absolutely ignorant and idiotic views of migrant workers from Southeast Asia when this disgraceful garbage is served up as “journalism”? Sickening.
Now I’ve got that off my chest, I’m off to sell some stolen goods online in exchange for sex from a migrant worker … Peace.
fromthenightmarket 