Australia copes with yellow peril

Australia copes with yellow peril

By Ganewati Wuryandari and Ikrar Nusa Bhakti

JAKARTA (JP): Over the past year, Australia's public racism
debate has not shown any flagging signs. The issue, triggered by
the Independent Party representative for Queensland, Pauline
Hanson last September, is snowballing into one of considerable
dimensions. In a speech before parliament last year, Hanson
called for the control of Asian immigration and the abolishment
of a multicultural policy.

In her opinion, Australia is flooded with Asians who have
brought in criminal elements and fouled the Australian culture.
Her prejudice against non-whites appears to be prevalent to this
day. It has become apparent with the establishment of a new
political party, One Nation, and with the publication of a book,
The Truth.

Racism is not new to Australian politics. It grew parallel
with the birth of Australian federation, which held onto a White
Australia Policy from 1901. Under this policy, the Australian
government only accepted immigrants of European lineage.

Even though this policy was abolished by former prime minister
Gough Whitlam in 1972, the immigration issue remains
controversial. Racial and multicultural matters have always been
a national issue. This came to light when Dr. Geoffrey Blainey
spoke at the Warranbool Rotary Club in March 1984. He said the
immigration policy was of no benefit to the Australian public, a
view shared by John Howard when he was a prime ministerial
candidate in 1988.

Those who oppose the multicultural policy do so for several
reasons. First, they believe Australians have nothing to gain
from a multicultural policy. They believe that Asians, steeped in
their own culture, are inclined to build Asian ghettos because of
their reluctance for integration.

Second, opening the doors to migrants and Asian refugees would
only sow the seeds of future shock, especially if the government
let in more Asian refugees than was needed.

In recent years, Asian immigrants have taken over the role of
traditional immigrants from England, Europe and the Mediterranean
and with this, economic, social and cultural problems have begun
to emerge.

Third, they fear that Asian immigrants would become a threat
to the traditional institution of Australian democracy.

Even if the government and certain members of the public
rejected and disapproved of these ideas, the fact is that a
considerable number of people sympathize with and support such
views.

An opinion poll conducted by The Australian at the start
of October 1996 revealed that 70 percent of respondents feel that
Australia has been swamped with Asian immigrants. Other polling
results disclosed that Hanson is supported by 10 to 25 percent of
her admirers.

So why have people been drawn to the subject of racial
prejudice?

There are several reasons for this. First, the "anger"
Australians are displaying today, is none other but a form of
social shock caused by the large number of Asian immigrants who
are relatively more established.

An exemplary model is Chatswood located in Sydney's northern
suburbs. This used to be an elite neighborhood occupied by
professionals of Anglo-Saxon ancestry. But better economic
standards among Asian settlers, has transformed this residential
area for the better part into a home for immigrants. Recently,
thousands of Hong Kong immigrants moved to Chatswood, preferring
Australian passports over Chinese documents.

Second, a present restructuring and economic efficiency
program under John Howard's administration has given rise to
employment related problems. The unemployment figure in Australia
currently stands at 8.5 percent. People are feeling the economic
pinch and a decline in the quality of life. It is these people
who are looking for a scapegoat for their misery.

Third, the prejudice against Asian immigrants could have been
provoked by the "Asianization of Australia". This can be
observed from the proliferation of Asian eateries, the ever
growing number of Asian students in Australian tertiary
institutions and Asian businesspeople who have started taking
over the economic sources of this continent with their growing
investment activities.

One example is the Samsung business group who bought up an
agricultural area at Warrah Station, New South Wales, at the
price of A$9.5 million (US$7.3). Citic, an arm of the Chinese
government in the field of foreign investments, paid up more than
A$100 million for Metro Meat, the second biggest meat processing
plant in Australia. Malaysian conglomerate, Robert Kwok, bought
up Coca-Cola Amatil for A$667 million, a Hong Kong and Malaysian
venture bought up the best dairy producing company in Australia,
National Foods, at A$425 million.

Taking these factors into consideration, it would appear that
the racial debate has arisen because of economic interests. Even
so, the ongoing issue is placing Australia in a difficult
position. On the home front, it would divide Australians over the
supremacy of the White Australia policy.

On the international front, it would degenerate the image of
the Australian government. At a time when nations are joining in
the universal race of globalization, Australia would appear to be
choosing isolation at the south pole. This would reflect on its
economic, political and social cultural relations with other
countries.

In education, for instance, the white Australia issue might
hurt the country economically which has, so far, been forking in
foreign incomes of A$2 billion from overseas students.

Statistics suggest that this trend has already been set in
motion. The number of Japanese students studying in Australia
decreased 7.5 percent, from 2,665 to 2,465, while Filipino
students decreased 39 percent from 257 to 156.

On the political front, this decrease in the number of
overseas students would hamper Australia's position in its
efforts to join the forum of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

It would be impossible for Australia to revive its isolation,
culture and economy. A negative toward Asia would harm economic
relations in the region. Although Australia is culturally
connected to Europe, its political, economic and security future
is centered in the Asia Pacific, even more so in the East Asian
Ocean and South East Asia.