This poses, a SERIOUS problem, as the households here are relying more and more, on these, migrant workers, to take care of the elderly, the sick, or the young in our families, what do we do, if one day, all of these, migrant workers are gone, huh??? Translated…
Several years ago, part of the tourism industry operators had hollered aloud on the news, “The Tourists from China aren’t Coming anymore”: the holidays in Kenting, there was, NOT enough of a crowd, because “the tourists from China weren’t coming”; there’s no troop of tourist busses in Takoro either, also because “the tourists from China weren’t coming”…………anyhow, every time, as the tourism industry is deflating, the workers couldn’t make it, they’d only needed to holler, “the political parties switched, causing the tourists from China to not come by”, and everything seemed, right. (I’m actually curious, as to how the tourism industries fared before Taiwan opened up to allow the tourists from China to come?)
The tourists not coming from China has to do with the politics, it’s out of our controls, but at least, we can, try to fill up that opening, from the tourism lacking from China with the tourists from other countries of the world too (including the frequently ignored tourists from Southeast Asia), and although, the transitions will not be that easy, but it’s not, entirely, unresolvable.
I believe the most pressing crisis that Taiwan face right now, is not the “Tourists from China isn’t coming”, but one day, if the “migrant workers were barred”, then, we’d be in BIG trouble.
“NO foreign workers? That’s great, what’s so bad about that?”, as members of the public heard this belief, they’d, instinctively react, because in their minds, the migrant workers are all here, to take the opportunities of work from the citizens here, to create a mess, to destroy the order of society, and, if one day, all of these 670,000 migrant worker just, vanished, as if by magic, wouldn’t that be grand? Everybody then gets a chance of being employ4ed, and the parks, cleaner, the train stations, unoccupied, no more racial issues, and, Taiwan shall become, the island of treasure that belonged to solely, the Taiwanese people.
Then, after just this one day, there may be, a total of nearly 200,000 families in Taiwan melting down, because in these families, there are, immobilized elderly, the ill, along with those with incapacities that needed the around-the-clock care. All of these caretaking work, are originally, handled by the migratory workers, without them, the government’s long-term care system, still under construction, and there would be, 200,000 members of the younger generation who’d needed to quit their jobs, and start working as nurses’ aides at home, and this will impact the incomes of 200,000 families, and, there would be, a lacking of 200,000 workers in the workforce.
Then, the next day, all the major industries, including the Scientific Park in Hsinchu, will stop functioning, because the lowest wage paid on the production lines were made up of these, migrant workers, and, without them, either that the enterprises, started setting up shop out of country, or that they would have to, hire the workers in Taiwan, at a much higher pay, but, the higher costs will definitely be reflected onto the prices of the items, and so, it will, naturally, cause the cost of living, to hike up, and the entire society will be, unstable.
Thankfully, we’d not asked Doraemon to use its “If Telephone Booth”, so, the above conditions are not yet happening, but, did all of you discover, that when the “tourists from China stopped coming” we can still find a way to resolve, but, if the “migrant workers stopped coming”, it may cause a total destruction—our society had, depended on these migrant workers too long, it’d made the government believe, that it’s okay, to take their time, setting up the long-term care programs, besides, the migrant workers will be here, to help us out……………we’re, drinking poisons to quench that thirst, and after awhile, if the political situation had, changed in the countries in Southeast Asia, and banned the citizens from working out of their home countries, will the headlines start complaining of how “the foreign workers aren’t coming” then?
We have no way of knowing, if this will happen one day, but if the society in Taiwan keeps on relying on the migrant workers, all of this, may be, an inevitability……………………
This, is NOT just happening here, it’s also, happening everywhere, like the U.S., like how, the companies are, outsourcing their factories elsewhere, because the cost of labor is cheaper, like in China, or like the article stated, the foreign caretakers are a HELL of a LOT cheaper than the workers who are from Taiwan, and, as the society slowly, become more and more reliant, on these migrant workers to help with the household chores, or to take care of the elderly population, or the ill in our families, then, we will become, totally, dependent, but what if, one day, these migrant workers are, banned from working here, then what???
Life, the Obstacle Course 