Roy Ngerng Profile picture
22 Feb, 14 tweets, 4 min read
In our research, Taiwanese say innovation is poor in Taiwan because the government tends to invest in big companies or companies which are already innovating and they want to make a quick buck from, and tend not to invest in SMEs. The quality of innovation is also ...
... not monitored, leading to companies reporting on good outcomes on paper but with many so-called innovations not being followed up on, or not real. Research funds are also given due to 關係 (guanxi), resulting in younger/returning Taiwanese not getting research funds.
There's of course the usual issues of Taiwan's low salary, a lack of educational reforms, which therefore means the low wages results in subpar quality work, and the system gets stuck. A culture therefore develops where Taiwanese workers do not question the system, ...
... they do what they are told, they do not question the underlying flaws of a system, and things don't change, don't innovate. All these are what Taiwanese say. Problem is, the government knows this, the 大老 (older people) know this, nobody wants to change the system, ...
... because they benefit from it by continuing to get funds and power, and there's the lazy reasoning and fear that Taiwan might not succeed if it changes. And so, there's the continued investment in semiconductor because that's what Taiwan is good at, but this ...
... demeans the whole generations of intelligent Taiwanese being produced (Taiwan's Pisa ranking is tops), and insults the capabilities of Taiwanese youths who say they are waiting for their time to shine, but aren't given the chance to do so.
Taiwan has tremendous potential to become bigger and more recognized. It proved it with #COVID19 and semiconductor. Taiwanese knows how to change, to move forward but the system doesn't want to. I thought this meant changing how government works, empowering youths and workers,...
... by strengthening labor unions and reform the education systems, or by changing how government works, if Taiwan is to regain its potential, but there's little political will to do so. If Taiwan wants to transform, then its democracy has to work, people have to be empowered.
Otherwise, if Taiwan champions its democracy only on paper, while not having commensurate democratization processes, then Taiwan will face what other democratizing regimes faces, it will fall back into autocracy. Democracy cannot be just for show.
Oh, and the reason you don't hear about these research? Many times, researchers tone down reports to ministries because they are afraid being too honest means research funding will be cut, or that ministries actually tell them to take out the critical bits (they don't like it).
So Taiwan doesn't grow because it suffers from a corruption within that requires the problems that everyone can see and has solutions for to be recognized, and for political and social will to be there to transform. Also, Taiwanese are too polite and indirect when they speak, ...
... so much so the problems keep being swept under the carpet. Just telling you what I'm told and heard. Don't kill the messenger. I'm not Taiwanese but what I'm saying is what other Taiwanese have told me. And until we are brave enough to acknowledge these and ...
... discuss about these, then we are going to keep championing Taiwan's successes in #COVID19 & semiconductor while ignoring the rot within. Whether Taiwan can move forward depends on whether Taiwan is brave enough to have a real conversation on these issues. @iingwen @DPPonline

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Roy Ngerng

Roy Ngerng Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @royngerng

22 Feb
This is so touching. A person in Myanmar opens up about how he felt his silence previously made him "complicit in the genocide of Rohingya" and how recent protests have opened his eyes, and how he vows never to make the same mistake again.

#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar
The thing is, the unity in Myanmar today is allowing people to have greater empathy and solidarity with one another, it has helped to remove barriers and strengthen relationships and unity, and like I wanted with the HK protests, I want people in Myanmar to win too.
Because these social movements have such a power to transform societies and move them to another level, and if their governments are wise, it's such a powerful energy to rally, to build society, and to give people new hope and progress.
Read 4 tweets
21 Feb
What @acertainjolene is saying 👇. When authoritarian regimes oppress the voices of citizens, they start to believe their own stories, and when other countries continue to uphold so-called 'soft' authoritarians as examples, they start to think they do not need to change. And ...
... when such authoritarian models are spread across the world, it starts to embolden authoritarian regimes. There's no such thing as a 'soft' authoritarian. Believing that these regimes will come around while supporting their oppression is only allowing them to bide their time.
By the time authoritarian regimes become stronger together and democracies become more reliant on them, then democracies will be at their mercy. We can talk about localization and bringing production back to democracies, while ignoring the human rights transgressions ...
Read 11 tweets
20 Feb
Some questions Singaporeans need to ask:

The People's Action Party (PAP) is already at its 4th & 5th generation leadership. How would we rate each successive generation?

If corresponding to vote share:

1st = 73%
2nd = 67%
3rd = 64%
4th = 61%
5th = 55%?

How would you rate it?
However, at which point do we want to start rebalancing Singapore's political situation?

When PAP's performance drops below 60%? 55%? 50%?

Do we want to wait for PAP to fail miserably before we try to prepare for an alternative scenario?

Will it be too late then?
For Singapore's long term stability, is it the interest of Singaporeans to prepare Singapore's political scene for a stable transition that involves multiple parties having the ability to negotiate and perform in a manner that will facilitate a smooth transition of power.
Read 12 tweets
19 Feb
Is Taiwan's government over reliant on the export market to drive Taiwan's growth? Is there enough focus on SMEs that contribute less to the export market? This is an important question to ask on how Taiwan's government views Taiwan's role globally.

en.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2…
What are the reasons why Taiwan's SMEs think they earn low profits? Is it because prices of Taiwanese products for local consumption are low? Taiwanese-made products can be half the price that of their international competitors (e.g. hair dryers, food products etc)
One reason for the low prices of Taiwan's local products could be due to the low wages. Workers earning low wages cannot afford higher prices, which therefore keep prices of local products low, and trapped in a cycle between low wages, low prices and low profits.
Read 26 tweets
9 Nov 20
After going through Taiwan's and US's presidential elections, I have a better understanding how people vote according to their insecurities. While many are shocked by how many Taiwanese support Trump, many in Taiwan and Asia are similarly shocked by ...
... how some US progressives support China's government because of anti-imperialism. It was only during Taiwan's presidential election this year that I realize how much votes are correlated with a sense of national insecurity, with very low correlation with economic insecurity,..
... because of how China's threat on Taiwan's sovereignty has driven people toward a party which can articulate their fears - the @DPPonline. I do not know what drives the insecurities in the US though some research point to economic insecurity as a driving factor toward ...
Read 31 tweets
14 Oct 20
Part of Taiwan's culture is characterized by exploitative behavior, and while it is by no means as bad as many countries, it is possibly one of the worst among advanced countries. Bosses exploit workers (Taiwan's profit share is among the highest in advanced countries), ...
... the rich exploit the poor (Taiwan's wealth inequality is among the highest), professors exploit researchers, trucks bully cars, cars bully motorcyclists, motorcyclists bully pedestrians. And such exploitation oriented toward profit and self-interest means ...
... there has been little impetus to fundamentally question the need for structural change. Taiwan's low-cost business approach is unquestioned, the poor traffic infrastructure is unquestioned, and the neoliberal approach is unquestioned. This has led to stagnation in Taiwan's...
Read 19 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!