Giving a Voice to Immigrant Wome--TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan

Along similar lines, Chiou Yadrung, originally from Thailand, also raised her voice: "Indonesians aren't 'barbarians'! What's barbaric is racism!" Hong Man-chi, from Vietnam, also picked up a microphone and said angrily that if her child encountered this teacher, she'd "teach him a lesson of his own!"

"Southeast-Asian sisters stand as one! Side by side we're never alone!" From boosting one another's confidence during rehearsals to finally taking the stage, the members of the TASAT Troupe have rediscovered themselves through performing stories of real life, as well as finding a way to stimulate dialogue with Taiwanese society.

These courageous women standing in front of the cameras and fiercely defending their rights is quite the contrast to the usual impression of immigrant women in Taiwan as living low-key and quiet lives, flying under the radar in both city and country. But this is certainly not the first time they've spoken up.

Both Chiou and Hong are members of the TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan (TASAT), which is not only Taiwan's oldest grassroots immigrant rights group, but also its most active.

TASAT, which emphasizes immigrants' right to speak out freely, is primarily made up of women from Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia who have married into Taiwanese families. The organization's driving spirit is one of actively striving to help one another, educating the community, and proposing policy changes to the government. Their hope is that through grassroots community activism, they will be able to help solve the problems that new immigrants to Taiwan face, as well as helping break down the walls of prejudice and racism through shared exchanges of information.

Back in 2005, TASAT brought together the tales of its members in the book Don't Call Me "Foreign Bride". Right from the cover, the book is rich with TASAT's spirit, with none of the tragic stereotypes so common in the mainstream media.

Indonesian Lee Hui-fen says that like all Indonesians she loves spicy food, but she found Taiwanese chili sauce more salty than hot, so she began producing her own sauce, "Asal Medan," at home. This sauce has now become a trademark product of TASAT, selling 3,000 jars a year.

Hsia Hsiao-chuan is a professor at Shih Hsin University's Graduate Institute of Social Transformation Studies and has long been interested in new immigrant affairs. She is also one of the founding members of TASAT, and told Taiwan Panorama about the founding of the association.

After beginning research into rural life in Meinong, Kaohsiung County, in the early 1990s, Hsia began to realize that there were more and more brides from Southeast Asia coming into the community. Despite not being able to read any Chinese, the women were able to communicate fairly well in the Hakka dialect, because Meinong is a predominantly Hakka village and many of the wives were from Indonesian-Hakka heritage. However, once they left the village, they were all but mute and deaf to the world around them.

Hsia began to work with the Meinong People's Association, started by a group of younger locals, and in 1995 they began holding the first "Chinese Literacy for Foreign Brides" classes in Taiwan. She recalls that the choice to call it a "literacy" course was a deliberate one, not aiming to mock these women as being "illiterate," but rather to bring to the attention of others the problems they face coming to a foreign country, where their native language skills are rendered all but useless, leaving them unable to read or understand what's written around them.

Founding member of TASAT Sok Kollyan was born in Cambodia and married a Taiwanese man 12 years ago. Sok explains that when she first began studying in Hsia's literacy course, she felt "like a bull in a China shop," but she was nonetheless fiercely determined to learn Mandarin. That drive was compounded by the feeling of belonging that came from sharing stories of home with her classmates, and these made her continue to straddle her scooter and head to class, even when pregnant.

"Southeast-Asian sisters stand as one! Side by side we're never alone!" From boosting one another's confidence during rehearsals to finally taking the stage, the members of the TASAT Troupe have rediscovered themselves through performing stories of real life, as well as finding a way to stimulate dialogue with Taiwanese society.

The transformation from a literacy course to TASAT was sparked in 2003, with the failure of a project application.

At the time Hsia had been requested by the Ministry of the Interior's Domestic Violence Prevention Committee to recommend translators for domestic violence prevention handbooks in various Southeast Asian languages. After talking with committee members from the Meinong People's Association, though, she decided that a hotline would be a much better way to reach out to these young women than a handbook they may or may not even get to see. The hotline would be staffed by foreign spouses who had resided in Taiwan for a relatively long time, and who would thus be better able to facilitate communication between the caller and a social worker.

The committee made an initial promise to work out the details with the Meinong People's Association, while also providing extra funding to help the literacy program start training telephone operators. When the time came to make their official bid, though, they ended up losing out to another non-profit because of their amateur status and presumed unfamiliarity with the system.

This failure was a massive blow to both the Taiwanese volunteers that had spent two years working on the project and the women who had been looking forward to giving their all to helping their sisters. When Hsia, voice cracking, told them about the result, the women all began to cry, but their determination was as strong as ever-"Never mind, we'll do it ourselves then!"

In late 2003, TASAT was officially born. The women put on a satirical performance during the press conference announcing the group's formation, before taking off their masks and tearing off the advertising slogans stuck on their bodies-"If she runs away, get another one free!", "Virginity guaranteed, with no extra cost!", "Women available from only NT$180,000!" This was their symbolic declaration of war on the prejudices and problems faced by Southeast Asian women in Taiwan.

Organizational empowerment and legal proposals are some of the important work done by TASAT. Not only has this led to their offering interpreter training classes, it has also inspired street protests speaking up for new immigrant women's rights.

In its foundation, TASAT followed in the footsteps of the literacy classes, which made no distinction between "teacher" and "student" and operated in an environment of consensus. Similarly, everything from the name of the association to its constitution, direction, and even a quota on the board membership of two-thirds Southeast Asian women, was decided upon by the collective membership of about 30 people.

Hsia says that the core value of the association is the philosophy of "empowerment" proposed by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire-"It's not all about getting everything all done perfectly step by step and teaching you what to do next, but rather about giving you the knowledge and inspiration to reach your own potential and become your own decision-maker." Through language education and discussions amongst equals, the group aims to help the women better understand their situation, start thinking critically about it, and then take action to make things different. After all, "Civil rights don't just fall from the sky! If we don't fight for them ourselves, who will?"

In the seven years since its formation, TASAT's women and their efforts have been visible across Taiwan. They've made their presence known at the National Immigration Agency and the Legislative Yuan, and in addition to their Mandarin classes, they've begun holding courses to train interpreters for ordinary activities and legal work.

Those members whose Mandarin is already fluent are also trained as "cultural instructors," who go to schools and organizations around Taiwan to share their native language, culture, cuisine, and experiences in Taiwan. The "progressive" approach preferred by TASAT is clearly evident through these kinds of proactive ideas.

"Southeast-Asian sisters stand as one! Side by side we're never alone!" From boosting one another's confidence during rehearsals to finally taking the stage, the members of the TASAT Troupe have rediscovered themselves through performing stories of real life, as well as finding a way to stimulate dialogue with Taiwanese society.

Chiou Yadrung, who has lived in Taiwan 11 years and has won an award from the National Youth Commission for her work with TASAT, laughs at the hundreds of times she's been been in and out of the Legislative Yuan as a protestor. But at the same time, she tells stories of the clear changes that have been made in immigration law thanks to the work of TASAT and their allies.

Soon after the National Immigration Agency was established in 2003, they began investigating fake marriages being used as fronts for prostitution, and all Southeast Asian immigrant spouses were considered suspects. During interviews with the police, they would be confronted with questions like "How many times do you have sex in a week, and in what positions?" and "What color are your husband's underwear?" When searching a home, the police only had to give 15 minutes warning, and if the wife happened to be out and unable to get home in time, this would be considered grounds for suspecting the marriage to be a fake. After many shows of opposition from TASAT and AHRLIM, these ridiculous rules were finally scrapped.

In the past, foreign spouses have been seen as "products" to be advertised, but these advertisements have all but disappeared since amendments to the Civil Code took effect in August 2009, as have the much-decried, often fraudulent "matchmaking" services. Now cross-border marriages can only be mediated by non-profit charitable organizations, and all expenses-including food and accommodation while visiting the prospective bride, as well as visa costs-must be made 100% clear. This has cut off a profit source for unscrupulous businessmen.

Today Taiwan is home to approximately 144,000 "foreign spouses" from around Southeast Asia. A group of these women has crossed the barriers of lifestyle between them to come together and form the TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan. On the left is Chiou Yadrung, from Thailand, and in the photo above is Cambodian Sok Kollyan and her daughter Xiuxiu. (photos above courtesy of Sok Kollyan).

TASAT's most significant protest activity to date must be their two-year effort opposing the need for prospective citizens to provide proof of financial support, an effort that finally bore fruit in 2008.

Under the Nationality Act foreign spouses wanting to become naturalized Taiwanese citizens must not only have been resident in Taiwan for 183 or more days a year for the past three years, they must also either pass a citizenship test (including tests of basic Chinese language skills and of knowledge of nationals' rights and obligations) or take a 72-hour government-run citizenship course. They also have to apply to renounce their existing citizenship. In addition, they previously had to provide proof of their ownership of at least NT$5 million in fixed assets or savings of at least NT$420,000 (two years' pay at minimum wage).

To the many foreign spouses whose new families work the land, run small snack shops, or do odd jobs, this financial requirement was far too harsh, and forced many to either just grin and bear it or even seek loans from their "matchmakers," leaving them to repay loans at high interest rates.

Since the Coalition against Financial Requirement for Immigrants, of which TASAT is a part, held its protests, this requirement-which had been called "class discrimination," "draconian," and "disrespectful of the rights of immigrants"-has been revised. Since this amendment, as long as they can provide proof of income or an affidavit stating that they are self-sufficient and do not need social welfare assistance, "even the poor can become Taiwanese now."

Today Taiwan is home to approximately 144,000 "foreign spouses" from around Southeast Asia. A group of these women has crossed the barriers of lifestyle between them to come together and form the TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan. On the left is Chiou Yadrung, from Thailand, and in the photo above is Cambodian Sok Kollyan and her daughter Xiuxiu. (photos above courtesy of Sok Kollyan).

Hsia Hsiao-chuan also says that from the Meinong literacy classes to TASAT, from being unable to speak to speaking up for themselves, while these women may seem calm, their paths have actually been long and tortuous.

She recalls one self-proclaimed "immigration expert" saying at a public academic conference, "Giving the so-called 'underprivileged' a voice is simple-just give them the microphone!" But how could someone so experienced in public speaking have any idea of how heavy that same microphone could feel in the hand of one of Taiwan's long-oppressed Southeast Asian women?

Consider their protests. When they first decided to take to the streets, it wasn't a matter of one rousing speech inspiring crowds to join, but rather of overcoming the myriad hesitations of the women, despite their agreement with the idea. Some didn't want to reveal themselves as "foreign brides," some feared punishment from angry husbands or in-laws, some were afraid of trouble with the police as they hadn't yet received their Alien Resident Certificates, and a few were even concerned that it would turn out like protests at home in Indonesia, where a simple demonstration could turn into a violent confrontation.

And even those that seem so confident now, like the cultural instructors with their fluent Mandarin, went through their own trials, like being unsure of their Mandarin and having their minds go blank when they took the stage, or being so nervous that their hands were shaking and the sweat was pouring.

Indonesian Lee Hui-fen, who is also the head chef behind TASAT's "Asal Medan" brand of Indonesian chili sauce, says that before her marriage, she had just been an ordinary nine-to-fiver with no idea about social activism. Now, though, it's about "thinking about others and speaking up for my sisters!" laughs Lee, and when her friends back home see her photos online, they're amazed.

Lee's family have been her greatest supporters along the way; not only have her in-laws and husband been 100% behind her, her son, now eight, has been with the women so much that even now he will occasionally tug at her skirt and say how much he misses them.

On several occasions, Lee and her family, who live in the Kaohsiung County township of Qishan, have made their way north for protests and activities. "No matter where we go, we go together," she says, her eyes smiling sweetly.

Organizational empowerment and legal proposals are some of the important work done by TASAT. Not only has this led to their offering interpreter training classes, it has also inspired street protests speaking up for new immigrant women's rights.

However, changing a law is just a show of "hard power." To overturn the prejudice of Taiwanese society will rely on emotional exchange and the "soft power" of winning hearts and minds.

To this end, the tireless women of TASAT have begun taking a new tack, with 20-plus women forming the "TASAT Troupe," which will address social issues and the fight for recognition through the medium of theatre.

The troupe held nine months of workshops, during which they had no director, no script, and just a single member of the Assignment Theatre Group helping them learn the physical side of acting. Finally last December the troupe put on a public performance with a script developed by the members through group discussions, and it received a rapturous welcome.

Put on to an audience of over 400 in a 200-person venue, Dreams of Diaspora told that tale so familiar to the women of TASAT, the trials of being a foreign spouse: financial problems in the husband's family, the problem of finding work while not knowing much Mandarin, the stares and glares of passersby, and the impossible dream of returning to a home they are so nostalgic for.

Their second show, Kite in the Storm, is a similarly self-penned script, telling the tale of a Vietnamese woman who comes to Taiwan to find work and support her family back home. The factory she works at goes bankrupt, leaving her with a huge, unpaid high-interest loan, and so she goes on the run, feeling this is her only option. Things only get worse, until ultimately she dies in an accident, her family left to sadly travel to Taiwan to reclaim her body.

When the curtain falls, not a dry eye is left in the house, on-stage or off. Renowned Taiwanese film director Hou Hsiao-hsien praised Kite in the Storm as a "simple, moving" story.

Not only is the troupe about to go on tour, notes Hsia Hsiao-chuan, this year they're also expecting to release a TASAT-produced documentary, as well as inviting groups from both the public and private sectors to join conferences. Additionally, they plan to continue to push for reforms to Taiwan's immigration law, addressing, for instance, the issue of the citizenship process for non-nationals who have dependent children and are either widowed or divorced due to domestic violence; these women can remain in the country because they have children, but can no longer seek citizenship through the process they would have as a married non-national, instead having to provide the same proof of financial support as others seeking citizenship. This seems unfair on these women who have had to become single parents through no choice of their own, and whether or not these women will be able to get the equal treatment they deserve may depend on the next wave of hard work from TASAT.

Hsia, who always bears in mind how much there is left to fight for, recalls one occasion where she and others from TASAT were invited abroad to share their experiences and tell their stories. One woman recounted how her own family had been so poor that she had had to give up her hopes of pursuing higher education, and it was only with great misgivings that she had married so far from home, where she had ended up suffering mistreatment amid misunderstandings and prejudice. Choking back her tears, she declared that even if the problems were many, she still wanted to get out and learn, because throughout her life she'd prided herself on her never-say-die spirit.

That never-say-die spirit seems the best summary of the stories of so many of our sisters from across Southeast Asia, and that same spirit is what will ultimately lead them and TASAT to the promised land they hope for.

"Southeast-Asian sisters stand as one! Side by side we're never alone!" From boosting one another's confidence during rehearsals to finally taking the stage, the members of the TASAT Troupe have rediscovered themselves through performing stories of real life, as well as finding a way to stimulate dialogue with Taiwanese society.

Indonesian Lee Hui-fen says that like all Indonesians she loves spicy food, but she found Taiwanese chili sauce more salty than hot, so she began producing her own sauce, "Asal Medan," at home. This sauce has now become a trademark product of TASAT, selling 3,000 jars a year.