Sam Lim, a former Malaysian cop and dolphin trainer, is making media waves in the political arena in Australia. Lim, who emigrated to Australia in 2002, won the Tangney seat long held by the conservative Liberal Party in last week’s Australian federal elections. Time will tell if he makes any waves in a Parliament of mostly Anglo-Celtic politicians.
Australia is a welcoming society, albeit predominantly Anglo-centric. For all its claims to being a multicultural class act as a nation, the parliamentary representation of growing ethnic minorities is still dismal. You can count the number of non-whites in Parliament on one hand until last Saturday’s elections.
Ethnocentrist politics is the result of traditionalism. White Australia has yet to see what Asians can do in leadership roles besides their prowess in fields such as medicine and business. Minorities themselves are to blame for not being more organised politically and being proactive.
Australian politics is still very much an old boys club, a bloke-ist party affair, a white man's bastion, and don't expect drastic changes anytime soon.
The small group of high-powered professional female independent candidates who won seats has ruffled the feathers of the major parties and challenged traditional gender bias. This impressive cluster of females, popularly known as Teal Independents (because of the colour of their T-shirts), will be a leap forward for climate change, integrity concerns and women's causes - if they can get the new government's attention. Labour, in forming a majority government, may not need their numbers.
Among their political scalps include former PM Tony Abbot and outgoing Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Given his loss, Frydenberg is now out of contention to replace defeated prime minister Scott Morrison as Liberal Party leader.
Western Australia, once the assured Liberal fixed-deposit state, turned Labour as the blue-ribbon seats of Curtin and Tangney switch sides. Counting is not finished but the Labour Party registered a lower tally of primary votes since their 2019 electoral loss, indicating it has lost some voters to independents and the Greens.
The largely rural-based National Party, part of the coalition with the Liberals, retained all their seats with one additional win. The Greens had their “best result ever” with their climate change agenda.
Rise of ethnic minorities
What augurs well for Australia from the victory of Sam Lim and Dai Le (another migrant) is that those from ethnic minorities can win elections. This is a far cry from the days of the 'White Australia' policy, but I still get friends from overseas asking me about racism in the country. Yes, racism is alive and well in Australia, but it is not institutionalised and structural as in Malaysia.
And no, I have not been racially abused in all my time in Australia. Racism takes many forms, not necessarily in abusive or hostile displays. Minorities themselves are also susceptible to practising reverse racism.
In fact, had the Australian Labour Party stuck to the Sam Lim strategy, they would not have lost to an independent in the safe Labour seat of Fowler. They parachuted in former New South Wales premier Kristina Kenneally, who lost to Vietnamese refugee, Dai Le, an independent.
Sam Lim and Dai Le represent the hope for a parliament more reflective of Australia’s significant demographic changes.
When I met Sam at an Old Frees alumni dinner in Perth before the elections, I told him the odds were stacked against him at Tangney. Reliance on the Malaysian vote bank in that constituency may not be enough for him to win. Sam agreed and worked hard to beat his opponent, a Morrison confidante. The Labour Party machinery ensured he got broader community support.
Sydney and Melbourne have significant Asian and other migrant communities that can influence election results. Those who are upset with Liberal sabre-rattling against China belted the Liberal Party, which lost safe urban seats in both cities.
Voter dissatisfaction
This election will be remembered for changes that reflected voter dissatisfaction with both Labour and Liberal parties.
The Greens are now the third party after traditional rival Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, known for its racist leanings, fared badly. Hanson herself may yet lose her Senate seat. Clive Palmer, a billionaire miner, who spent A$100 million on his six-month United Action Party media blitz, may see one Senate seat win.
If the losing Liberal Party is to avoid fossilisation, it has to be more representative of the ethnic and gender composition of electorates and field candidates accordingly. Tokenism is no longer acceptable. Traditionalism is a poisoned chalice.
The Liberal Party presently has a deficit in capable, charismatic and convincing leaders, especially women, at both state and federal levels. Women and ethnic minorities can't be taken for granted in elections as this one showed. Morrison did not endear himself to women voters. It was an election he lost rather than one won by his opponent.
Australia is a mature democracy when it comes to conceding electoral defeat. Indeed, the world can learn from its leaders. Morrison was exemplary and gracious in defeat and so too were Kenneally, Frydenberg and others.
I tell friends who are disenchanted, discouraged and depressed elsewhere to see Australia as a land of opportunity. It is the Malaysia its citizens did not have, and former Malaysians like Penny Wong and Sam Lim are inspiring success stories.
Malaysia which once was the paradigm multiracial nation, one held up by the world as a model of racial harmony, has lost that role. It risks being seen as a nation practising apartheid while bent on a doctrine of segregation and misplaced racial hegemony. It risks being left behind, period.
I can't envision how Malaysians will see political and social change unless the people demand change, not only through protests but through the ballot box. Vote against tradition, the way the Aussies had voted. - Mkini
STEVE OH lives in Australia and believes capable, upright and caring leaders can make a permanent difference to a nation's success or failure.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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