TAIWAN – Lai Ching-te won the Taiwanese election that took place last week. Not many people may know that Lai Ching-te once visited Indonesia in 2017.
His role as Mayor of Tainan at that time brought Lai Ching-te to PP Muhammadiyah to sign a cooperation agreement with 12 universities in Indonesia.
Lai Ching-te is a warm, friendly leader. At that time his position was still limited to Mayor, but he managed to become a byword in the international press.
At that time, Lai was named as one of the strongest candidates to run in Taiwan’s presidential election.
But the position of Tsai Ing-wen, the incumbent president, was still very difficult to shift.
Finally, in 2020, Lai Ching-te managed to carve his name to sit in the position of vice president of Taiwan accompanying Tsai Ing-wen as President-elect.
Education as a Bridge of Bilateral Relations between Indonesia and Taiwan
During his visit to Indonesia in 2017, Lai Ching-te said that his country was ready to accommodate Islamic students from Indonesia who wanted to continue their education to a higher level in Taiwan.
Educational support facilities for Islamic students have also been prepared by the government.
Among them are halal restaurants, hotels, places of worship, and an adequate environment, including a qualified teaching and learning environment in Taiwan as well as free Mandarin courses for Indonesian students who pursue education through scholarships.
“We also provide special discounts for students who use public transport. There are also free buses. All buses in our city are equipped with dual language. This means that everything is well prepared,” he said when met at the signing of the cooperation between PP Muhammadiyah and 12 universities in Tainan Province in March 2017 in Menteng.
Lai recognised that this cooperation is a strong foundation for the development of culture and insight between the two countries.
Not only that, this is also part of the New Southbound Policy that is being implemented by the Taiwanese government.
The Number of Indonesian Students is the Second Largest in Taiwan
Representative of the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Indonesia John Chen said that, until 2017, there were 5,074 Indonesian students studying in Taiwan.
This number makes Indonesian students the second largest foreign students in Taiwan.
