2 million 600TWD vouchers drawn by lottery to buy arts related stuff.
Registering for the coupons can be done on the “Arts Fun Voucher” (藝FUN券) app from July 18-20.
For the stimulus vouchers, I heard this was the discussion before it was officially announced. Reasoning was 1). it would be unpopular with voters to give migrant workers vouchers, 2). a few politicians were complaining that if they had vouchers they would expect time off to actually use them and 3). by simply excluding migrants, other foreigners would claim that it was the racist policy that it was. Could be entirely rumors but they turned out to be correct and appear they are reasonable assumptions. I also heard it was a very small handful of policy-makers who drew the line against foreigners receiving them but don’t know if sharing their names publically would be a good idea.
I only heard one person named as absolutely drawing a line against foreigners and anybody knows that foreigners accusing politicians of something for which they don’t have a recording of (and perhaps even then) on a public forum is a less good idea than stealing a Ubike and riding it around tossing banana peels out of the basket as you careen down the sideway.
Assuming that this is correct, it strikes me as truly bizarre, and also pretty pathetic, that this is something that Taiwanese politicians were actually discussing.
It’s 2000 TWD (~68 USD), less than one-tenth of one month’s salary at minimum wage, to be spent at Taiwanese businesses - it’s a pretty paltry sum. How vindictive does someone need to be to have an issue with foreigners/migrant workers possibly benefiting from the scheme while supporting Taiwanese businesses?
And they could use those vouchers on their day off which is Sunday. Them refusing on the basis that the migrant workers will want a day off would be to me specific government officials giving a silent, agreeable nod to the fact that they know these people are treated like slaves and that they personally don’t care. They are afraid for the voting backlash from locals who essentially own modern day slaves.
I had rich students saying how their ‘Maria’ took care of their elderly dad, cooked dinner for all, got the kids from school, helped the snooty rich stay at home mother prepare meals for her guests, and cleaned up the house afterwards. They were so proud of the value they extracted. I said you realize it’s illegal right? The topic got changed suddenly.
About as vindictive as making ARC/APRC holders flying back to Taiwan get Covid-19 test for like 4-5 days about 2 weeks ago.
It’s rather pervasiveness in Taiwan’s blackhole of a bureaucracy, no?
The point to draw here is not the venality or evil nature of the bureaucracy, even though they do of course mess up some times.
The real point here—along with the squashing of the planned youbike discimination—is that getting organized and making the case for change can actually work, as vividly shown in the ARC/APRC holder COVID-19 test policy reversal.