This is an excerpt of a keynote address delivered by Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong in Kuala Lumpur during a trip to Malaysia to push for closer ties with South-East Asia.
It is an extraordinary privilege and honour to stand here today in Malaysia as Australia’s foreign minister. I doubt my poh-poh [grandmother] could ever have imagined it. Her name was Madam Lai Fung Shim. She was of Hakka descent. When the war came to Malaysia, she and the rest of the family were in Sandakan.
Most of our family died in the war, and Poh-Poh was left alone to care for her children in the hardest of circumstances. She was barely literate. She was loving and humble, and the strongest person I have ever known. In times of struggle I think of her and what she had to endure.
Her determination to survive, and to save herself and her children, is something from which I draw strength every day.
Her son, Francis Wong, was a bright student who worked hard. His efforts earned him a Colombo Plan scholarship to study architecture at Adelaide University. The opportunity to study was the opportunity that defined his life.
It meant he could climb out of the poverty he experienced as a child. It meant doors opened that would have otherwise been jammed firmly shut. It meant he could come to Australia — a very different Australia from what we know today.
And it meant a charming young Malaysian man could meet a bold young Australian woman.
They married and moved back to Kota Kinabalu, where I was born, and where I spent the first eight years of my life. Dad brought back with him knowledge and skills. He became a notable figure in Kota Kinabalu, designing prominent civic buildings — although sadly I am told many have been replaced. The value of that education has never left him. He always told me: “They can take everything away from you, but they can’t take your education.”
And I am glad that he is far from the only Malaysian to gain from an education in Australia.
Indeed, over the past 20 years, more than 125,000 Malaysians have studied in Australia. And many Australians are benefiting from education in Malaysia. Malaysia is now host to the largest overseas Australian university presence in the world, creating an important transnational education hub in South-East Asia. The opportunities of education provide an endless potential for growth for individuals and for their communities, and for their countries.
These community links are at the heart of our relationship. Though we are tied together by geography, the human ties of family, business, education and tourism are stronger. Australia wants to strengthen these ties further. We want to give more momentum to our partnership with Malaysia.
We are diverse nations, but we all agree that we want to live in a region that is stable, prosperous and respectful of sovereignty. Where disputes are guided by international law and norms, not by power and size. A region that is peaceful and predictable.
Strategic equilibrium enables countries to make their own sovereign choices — rather than having their future decided for them. We have a responsibility to work together to achieve our shared interests and ensure our region remains peaceful, prosperous and respectful of sovereignty.
Those of us who grew up with family stories from the war owe it to our grandparents — and our children — to preserve that region. My family history will be on my mind today when I go back to Kota Kinabalu. But more than the past, I am focused on the future. Australians know our future lies in the region we share with Malaysia.
And it tells you something about modern Australia that I am here today speaking to you as Australia’s foreign minister.
I referred to Australia being a different place when my father arrived around 60 years ago. My Malaysian heritage is one of the 270 ancestries now represented in Australia. Half of the Australian population was born overseas or has a parent who was born overseas. Australia will be reflecting this rich character back to the world, so the world can see itself in Australia. Because we share common ground.
The time has come for Australia’s full story to be told: our modern diversity and the rich heritage of First Nations peoples. As we look to the future, I hope Australia’s story will be part of your story.
