Australian on anti-Asianization drive

JAKARTA (JP): A senior member of the Australian House of Representatives is currently in Jakarta as part of a regional tour to explain his campaign against what he calls the "Asianization" of Australia.

Graeme Campbell, independent member for Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, told The Jakarta Post that his campaign had been grossly misrepresented by the Australian media which often led to the misunderstanding in the region that it smacked of racism.

He referred in particular to the ongoing race debate in Australia, triggered by last year's election of shopkeeper Pauline Hanson into the House of Representatives after campaigning on a platform to limit the number of Asian immigrants into Australia.

Campbell plans to meet with officials of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs today before heading to Singapore. His tour also takes him to Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Campbell, the founding president of the Australia First Party, said his campaign had the support of many Australian Aboriginals as well as Asian immigrants who opposed the concept of the Asianization of Australia.

The Australians Against Further Immigration, a lobby group which is endorsed by Campbell, rejects multiculturalism in Australia in its policy paper, saying the concept has produced conflict between group rights and individual rights.

"The... liberal establishment, who so strongly support multiculturalism, seem blind to the fact that their philosophy of individual rights will disappear under the pressure of group, ethnic and racial rights in a multicultural society," it says.

"Now we are being told that Australia is a part of Asia and that we must adopt Asian cultural values. Values that are often totally alien to our civilizational values and background." (emb)