June 5 this year is the Eid al-Fitr celebration for all the Muslims around the world. In the early morning at the Taipei Railway Station Main Hall, about three hundreds foreign migrant workers sat on the floor, gave blessing for each other, shared the traditional food, and celebrate the festival.
Indonesian migrant worker who has been working in Taiwan for 14 years, namely Ani hold the “I love Taipei” sign for the picture, she said that she is working in a foreign land, but she was happy to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr with the friends here, she really loves Taipei.
Taipei Deputy Mayor, Tsai Bingkun (蔡炳坤) said, Taipei is a multi-inclusive city, where some of the Muslim friends coming for work, study, or living. The city must care all the aspects of their food and clothing needs. Through the Eid al-Fitr activities, let the people know about Muslim culture, migrant friends also can feel the atmosphere that as same as at home, make it as the best cultural exchange interaction. He also invites all the migrant friends on the scene to participate in the Muslim Carnival event that hosted by the Taipei City Government on June 9.
Special for today, the Head of Labour Department Lai Xiangling (賴香伶) also prepared the Taiwan “scented bag”, had the “language exchange” for the blessing event. Ms. Lai learned to say“Happy Eid” in Indonesian language, and taught the Indonesian friends to say “Happy Dragon Boat Festival” in Chinese, attracted many migrant friends to challenge. About thousands Indonesian migrant workers came to Taipei Main Station, especially the main hall to have fun together.
Lai Xiangling said that in the past month, the Labour Bureau has always reminded the employers to respect and understand the religious beliefs of the migrant friends. For the Eid al-Fitr day, many employers gave a half day off in order to let them participated in the event. It shows the respect and recognition of Taiwanese people for the custom of the migrant culture.
