Let me start with my own experience. I came to Taiwan to study in 2010 from Malaysia. I have lived in Taiwan for 12 years, and the New Southbound Policy started in 2016. As far as my observation is concerned, in fact, in the year or two before 2016, due to the increasingly close exchanges between Taiwan and Southeast Asia, the new residents and the new second generation (there were no such terms and concepts at that time) had become an ethnic group that was difficult to ignore in Taiwanese society. The issue of Southeast Asia is also fermenting among the people, but the New Southbound Policy has come to an end, prompting Taiwanese society to pay more attention to Southeast Asia. 2016 is my 6th year in Taiwan,
and my journey in Taiwan is exactly halfway through. Taking this year as a watershed, the most obvious feeling is that after the implementation of the New Southbound Policy, a voice appeared in Taiwanese society. A bit self-critical, I told myself, "Sorry, we don't know much about Southeast Asia." To be honest, although I am from Southeast number list Asia, do the people living in Malaysia know a lot about the neighboring ASEAN countries? In fact, not necessarily. Perhaps many Malaysian Chinese have more deeply rooted stereotypes and discrimination against Thais and Indonesians. In my education, no one ever told me: "Malaysians must understand Taiwan", so I would not ask Taiwanese friends: "Taiwanese must understand Southeast Asia".
So, isn't it important to know about Southeast Asia? Of course it's important, but you have to have the right mindset. I think the right way is, if you don't even care about the land under your feet, how can you have the heart to know about other countries? Rediscovering Malaysia and Taiwan from Social Movements I studied at universities and research institutes in Taiwan from 2010 to 2016, which coincided with the rise of opposition forces and social movements in Malaysia. Although I have left the motherland that raised me for 18 years, I still care about it in Taiwan. For example, the "Clean and Fair Elections Coalition" held five large-scale parades between 2007 and 2016. Many Malaysian expatriates in Taiwan also rallied in Liberty Square to jointly respond to the social movement of the motherland