Candidates for the six categories — social and welfare workers, taxation agents, transportation-related officials, police seeking promotion, military officers above the rank of colonel or captain who want employment in the civil service, and workers for the indigenous peoples — will have to take English tests. According to the Ministry of Examination, which is an agency under the Examination like any ministry under the Executive Yuan, the test of English was suggested by President Ma Ying-jeou, who tried to internationalize Taipei while he was mayor of the capital city from 1998 to 2006. He believes the Taipei-ites have to be efficient in English so that their city may be an “international” city. Now that he has become president, he wants most, if not all, of the public servants to acquire at least some command of English, lest their world view remain very much limited.

While we hope more people in Taiwan will learn English well enough to read English-language papers, we must point out that making English a mandatory test to qualify government employees under those six categories who are unlikely to be called upon to use that foreign language throughout their careers isn’t a practical way to “internationalize” Taiwan. After all, nobody seems to know exactly what an “internationalized” Taiwan should be. Does it mean Taiwan is “internationalized” or becomes a modern or postmodern society if everybody here speaks English? Then, even Bangladesh, where English is popularly spoken, must qualify as an ultramodern country. The quality of the people of a society cannot be measured by their daily use of English, which is the only non-artificial universal language.

Of course, there isn’t, and there won’t be, a test the candidates for government work should take to prove they aren’t going to be toadies. That’s actually the one test the Examination Yuan should consider requiring all candidates to sit for. Public functionaries should learn to refuse to gratify every ill-conceived whim of their supreme boss.

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