Bangkok in Tears

The news and pictures have gone around the world. Bangkok has been "reclaimed" by the military and the reds have torched a number of buildings, especially around Siam.

Siam used to be my home in BKK, where I would go every evening. Now it is a very different place. But unless some of my Bangkok friends, I dont loose a lot of time worrying about buildings.

I am more worried about the people, the ones who have been hurt, and I am sad about the ones who have lost their lives. The rifts in Thailand will take years to heal and the anger of the lower class will only grow.

I would like to leave you with some pictures. They are graphic. But then again, what happened in BKK WAS very graphic.

The picture of the year.

BKK in flames.

Soldiers in front of MK restaurant.

An Italian photographer sadly lost his life...

Red shirts handcuffed

The mess...

Zen burning.

An injured soldier.

Injured soldier and Canadian photographer...

A red shirt protester who lost his life.

BKK in flames.

A very strong picture, a handcuffed monk.

Soldiers advancing into Lumphini.

Soldiers followed by photographers.

No comment.

Centralworld.

Bangkok as a War Zone

Since the last time I wrote, the situation in Thailand has turned for the worse. Where a month ago, an army attack on the demonstrators near Khao San Road and the Democracy Monument left about two dozen dead and several hundred injured, violence has now greatly spread.



It seems beyond belief but here I am looking at pictures, reading articles, messages, and maps, which all talk about Central Bangkok as a war zone. In fact, it IS now a war zone. The Army's plan is to encircle the demonstrators into a tight area from which people can not flee and into which supplies can not be brought. In the last couple of days, we have seemingly seen no positive results from the army side at all.

On the opposite: areas, which used to be considered safe are now extremely dangerous. Victory Monument and the close-by entertainment road Soi Rangnam (including the impressive King Power duty free complex) are now no-go zones. I am including a video of what is happening on this street.

The Army has positioned snipers on rooftops of strategic buildings. Red demonstrators get shot but no one knows why particular people get shot. (except the prominent shooting of Reds Army General Seh Daeng) Clearly however, all the dead are hit in the head with sniper rifles from above.

To be honest, I am confused about both sides and their motivations and actions. The Red Shirts had a deal on the table, presented by a conciliatory PM Abhisit a few days ago. It would have meant the dissolution of the Parliament within a matter of weeks and elections within months. This is what the reds wanted...they would have won the elections and been back in power. They could have rewritten the constitution and perhaps even given Thaksin a window to come back....but then they declined and started to demand silly things.

Why did they suddenly stop the cooperation and why didnt they take a reasonably good deal they could have agreed to? Do they want to motivate the countryside? Do they want to fire up their symphatisers in the rest of Bangkok? Did someone sell them out for personal gain? All I know is that the ones who have died and will die are not the ones who are leading the reds.



Abhisit on the other hand seems to have no other option. The centre of Bangkok has been occupied for weeks and the shopping malls, which belong to important people in the country want to sell goods again. After the refusal of the reds to cooperate, the PM had to act and send in troops.

But, do they have to place snipers on rooftops, where they can indiscriminately kill people? I have a feeling the Army isnt serious about taking back the main area of the demonstrators around Rajprasong because it would probably mean hundreds of deaths, including women and children.



At this stage, I cannot imagine what is going to happen next. The area of fighting is now so large and includes so many important buildings that it would seem impossible to conquer for the Army. Additionally, groups of protesters are forming again outside of the military ring, which makes the Army much more vulnerable.



While I hope for an agreement, or anything similar, which could stop at least the immediate fighting in Bangkok, I would like to share some of my thoughts and what should happen now:


-An outside team must be allowed into Thailand either under UN or under ASEAN leadership to negotiate an immediate ceasefire and a new roadmap to elections and.

-This team might have to be supported by a UN mission (military).

-In the longer term, a special envoy (see Aceh) could bring together the parties and negotiate a long-term peace deal.

-As a part of that, the constitution will have to be re-written. Thailand should become a federal state. Regional Governments should be elected by the local people. These governments will have the power to raise their own taxes and decide autonomously in policy areas such as education. There will be a national plan to redistribute tax income according to the wealth of provinces.



Unfortunately this is not what is going to happen. The Thai people, especially the Bangkok elite are too proud to let foreign people help them find a solution in this impossible situation. They still have the feeling that Thailand, as a "sovereign country" can control its situation internally. Romantic and naive notions of the Country of Smiles and the great City of Angels are still circulating. Unfortunately, we need to look at the reality and there, I think that the notion of a functioning state with rule of law does not apply to Thailand/Bangkok anymore.



I have seen pictures of people who got arrested and read twits of people who said they are being imprisoned for 6 months without parole. (unfortunately hardly anything is written about what happens to the imprisoned...) Now, Abhisit threatens the demonstrators in Rajprasong that they will be imprisoned for terroristic acts for two years.



Here, the Western world has of course set a wonderful precedence with its terrorism laws and the ubiquitous American rhetoric of “terrorism”. In fact, most people camping in central Bangkok would hardly be terrorists. Paralysing the centre of your capital for two months is hardly acceptable and setting fire to banks and other buildings is also not a noble act. Someone should be held accountable for such actions.

But someone also should have been held accountable for the airport blockade in late December 2008. Those who shout the loudest now and triumphantly argue that the “poor reds” lose work because of their protests would have proudly supported the “yellows” when they shut down air travel in Bangkok.



All in all, this shows that the Thai state is NOT able to guarantee that lawfulness, fairness and equality are practiced. There are too many actors with interests and too many people who primarily look for themselves, and in that, I think I can understand the frustration of many Thais.

The real damage to the society and country however will only surface after the dust over Central Bangkok will have settled and the last rounds will be fired. If the military is successful in suppressing the demonstrators and many more people die, I fear we will see large-scale uprisings, mostly in the countryside (Isan and North). Millions of red shirt supporters also live in Bangkok...It would be devastating and a parallel state (a very fragile one) could develop. This opens the door to all sorts of violence and irregularities. Policing would be impossible, travel would be difficult and trading too.



Whatever happens, the ruptures that run through the Thai society are larger than ever. The mistrust is so large I doubt people can live together peacefully anytime soon. I have also been shocked at the hateful and radical words which friends of mine (mostly middle-to-upper class Bangkokians) have been using. “Hate” is widely spread and is a common word for describing “the other side”. It’s all black and white.

The red shirts threaten the middle-to-upper class Bangkokian's lifestyle of superiority, nonchalance and arrogance. Whoever has been to Bangkok or lived there will know what is meant. Thailand is a class-based society and the top has done all it could to suppress the bottom. It is ironic then that the Reds have chosen to occupy the space next to Centralworld, the largest mall of BKK…



In a way then, none of what is happening is surprising. The price however will have to be paid by the commoner...and I fear THAT is not going to change, even after the current situation.

Thailand in Tatters

Thailand is in the news again, day in and day out. And as always in the last couple of years, it’s not for the good reasons. I moved to Bangkok post-coup and post-election so I saw Samak, the elected prime minister being chased away by the courts for cooking on TV and his successor, Somchai Wongsawat being chased away by the PAD yellow shirts and the courts essentially for being Thaksin’s brother-in-law.

I was in Bangkok when the airport was closed for over a week and suddenly, the streets were full of tourists and the shelves on the supermarket started to thin out slightly. I was also in Bangkok when the red shirts burnt tyres throughout the Bangkok old town and had their little stand-off with the military on Songkran last year.

Through all these times, whenever BBC started their news at the top of the hour with another “anti-government protesters in Bangkok…” snippet I felt a bit honoured to be so close to world-news but also increasingly uneasy that my adapted home, Bangkok and Thailand’s reputation as a whole had slowly been falling. Thailand continued to be a popular destination for travelling, a reputation that is hard to lose.

But now, I feel, things are slowly changing. What we have been seeing in the recent days (me from the distance in Australia) is a different ballgame. This time around, it’s serious. This is not about a few hundred or thousand people being paid by Thaksin to attend a rally anymore, this is about a much bigger issue.

To explain the issues that lie at the heart of all problems, I need to write about some basic issues of Thai history and identity. I take my information from some books and articles by academics, but most of all from my personal experience in Thailand.
Firstly, it needs to be said that Thailand is not alone in its struggle. Throughout Southeast Asia, indeed also Northeast Asia and other parts of the world, there has been civilian unrest during the time of democratisation, often to do with class, religion or ethnicity-based discrimination.

Basically, Thailand is still a feudal state. Very few own very much and the great majority own rather little. When the economy is going well and Thailand can export and gets a lot of incoming tourists, the great majority can also benefit, but the great beneficiaries are the very few rich people.

But the very few rich people do not just enjoy economic benefits, they also enjoy other privileges. The great majority of people and the small minority of people live totally different lives. For the great majority, a step up the ladder of wealth is unthinkable and vice versa too. You are born into a class and that’s it. Les jeux sont faits.

The Thai state however is not only rigid in terms of class but it is also an extremely nationalist and unitary state. Early in the 20th century, Thai nationalism was spurred by proclaiming the three pillars of religion, language and the monarchy as the basis of the Thai nation. Understanding these three pillars, and understanding certain limits of the pillars is at the base of understanding parts of the crisis Thailand is currently in.

The Thai nation, as is commonly taught in schools and shown in the National Museum has never existed as such. The Thai people are originally a mix of different tribes from Southwest and South China, Khmer, Malays and many others. As such, they not only look very differently, but they speak different languages, eat different foods and believe different things.

The Thai state however has for decades lulled everyone under the same tent and given everyone the same identity. It has done so quite successfully and Thailand today, is what social scientists would call a model of an “imagined community”. The great majority of things that hold Thailand together have been artificially created by the state. On top of that, myths are being created, to make everyone believe the common history. This results in people being made into someone they aren’t.

Another factor is education. Education in Thailand never teaches a student to be critical. Instead they are taught to believe what a person of authority tells them. This then applies to practically all situations in life. Responsibility is given away quietly and people who carry more respect (due to age, ethnicity or other social standing) are followed blindly. (in Thai: pu yai)

Even at Chulalongkorn University, the self-proclaimed “pillar of the nation” , the development of own thoughts and processes of reasoning are not taught and as a result of that, not even the brightest of the nation can question the status-quo.

Unless serious changes in the Thai nation occur, and unless Thai people, especially the so-called “elite” starts to learn to question societal norms, Thailand, in my opinion, cannot come to a peaceful and lasting solution.

I don't think however that Thaksin can be the answer. He is again a person of respect, to whom everyone can easily give his or her responsibility. He is an ersatz pu yai to whom people can look up to. Additionally, his motivations are far from clear and there is at least a little bit (if not a lot) of selfish thought being his bid to come back to Thailand.

The current situation in Thailand then, with the reds blocking the Rajaprasong intersection in the centre of Bangkok and having erected a bamboo-guarded camp at Lumphini park vis-à-vis Silom is not a good one. The reds want elections, and soon. But who will ensure that once a “red” candidate wins, the royalist PAD will not come out and block Bangkok again? After all, the reds would have secured an election by paralysing Bangkok. This would serve as precedence for years to come (as the airport blockade by PAD already did).

The military in the meantime is torn and cannot afford a bloodbath or a coup if it wants to remain a credible actor. The government finally cannot afford a blockade that will last much longer either and if elections are held, will probably lose. Were it to launch a violent attack on the demonstrators with the help of the military, it would be even more popular and the reds would regroup in the northeast and north, not only making a fair election impossible but seriously challenging the territorial unity and legitimacy of the Thai state.

The situation is very tense, but is further aggravated by the fact that Thais can be very emotional people, who can from one moment to another, lose all reasoning and engage in foolish acts of brinkmanship. It might only take one silly person throwing a stone or a grenade and more people die, triggering an uncontrollable chain reaction.

I am afraid to say but there is no face-saving solutions for everyone in sight. A pawn will be sacrificed and whether that is Abhisit and his government or dozens, or even hundreds of red shirts remains to be seen in a very near future.
Neither however is what should happen. Change starts in the minds of the people and what needs to happen, is more than just an election (Abhisit said this too, but I am not sure he means what I mean).

A matter of fact is that most Thais feel that they have no power and no say whatsoever in their lives. Deals are struck behind their backs, involving the police, politicians or even other actors in the political and partly outside the political field. The principles of the rule of law are simply not strong enough in Thailand. Matters of law are politicised and important matters of politics are secret.

Unless the institutions become more open, more democratically legitimised and honestly start working for the people, the population is going to continue to feel alienated by the state. And unless centralised Thailand will devolve some of its power to the regions, the rural population will continue to feel distant and powerless.

On the other side, the “elite” must realise that it cannot continue to differentiate themselves from the “commoners”, the people from the regions, farmers, dark-skinned people by treating them with contempt. The privileged must understand that Thailand will become a fairer society and part of that is recognising each and every citizen as an equal, whether poor, black, Muslim or rich, Chinese and white.

As much as I hope for a peaceful solution beneficial for all Thais, I fear that we are still very far from such a solution.

Australians are racist?

It seems like whether we are in Europe, North America or here in Australia, Asia has not just been knocking on our door, it has actually already come to our living room.

Asia, especially China has actually entered our daily lives here in Australia quite decisively, and a lot of the "locals" are not liking it. Recently, there have been some opportunities for the China-bashers to voice their dissent with China's role here in Australia.

Stern Hu, an Australian-Chinese working for an Australian mining company has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Chinese authorities for stealing commercial secrets and receiving bribes. Australians were outraged. A large Chinese oil tanker has just recently been stranded just near the Great Barrier Reef and is now slowly losing its oil. The Australians are outraged.

And this last example really goes to the heart of the Australian psyche. Chinese buyers are increasingly buying property here in Australia. Often, the properties concerned are very up-market and perhaps just used by the buyer's children, studying or going to high school in Australia.

In Australia, more than perhaps in any other country of the world, the land and your property defines you and your life. As a young professional, you are taught to aim to own your own house as soon as you can. Currently, this is getting harder and harder as the housing supply is not catching up with the demand. This means, prices are going up!

That is good for the ones who own, but not so good for the ones who aspire to own. Young families and singles are forced to move to the outer suburbs, where cheaper patches can be had. It is of course very easy to blame immigration for this "crowding out" of low income earners...

About 100 years ago, the picture was much different. Chinese workers, often well-educated, literate and humble people were discriminated and humiliated. They were simply mistreated for the colour of their skin. If a white woman would do the unthinkable and fall in love with a Chinese man, the couple would be banished, curses would be thrown and them and sometimes even eggs too.

Then came the White Australia Policy. This was the ultimate racist policy, where Asiatics were not allowed into Australia anymore.

Now however, the tables are turning. So much so, that the Chinese are now starting to be hated for being rich. I am reading that Chinese buyers are not very welcome at auctions. I wonder if Australians would show the same reaction if a British or an American person would snap the property away before their eyes...?

(Almost) no Asia in Melbourne Suburbs

Last weekend I was lucky to be able to combine a business trip to Melbourne with a personal visit to my aunt.

The business trip was about an academic network, of which I am the secretary. Therefore I needed to know what is going on, what are the priorities of the network and what issues I needed to push. The second part was far more interesting and included a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria, where our Embassy (represented by me) is trying to set up a joint photo exhibition about our country's darker sides. Exciting!

Luckily, my auntie also lives in Melbourne. Although, strictly speaking she lives right on the northern edges of the city, where the suburban sprawl gives way to small hills, valleys, sprinkled farms and ever-sprawling housing developments.

I stayed with my lovely aunt for 3 days, during which we visited malls, visited more malls, visited a museum and the Dandenong Hills on the East of Melbourne, and some more malls.

Perhaps I had been living in a too urban place (Chatswood) in Sydney, where a pan-Asian population transplant life onto the streets and into Asian shops. Now, living in Canberra in the diplomatic area, I do not get to see much urban life at all. In fact, hardly any life at all. Leafy streets, Australian Federal Police Cars (I live near the US and Israeli Embassy) and quiet dark houses is all I see here in Canberra.

The suburban life in Melbourne was a bit of a shock for me then. When you want to go out and do something indoors you either take the 60 minute train ride to the city or you take a 10 minute car ride to the mall. Actually, there were about 4 or so malls right near where my aunty lives.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a supposedly upmarket mall in the suburb of Doncaster. This was white young upper-middle class centre. There were hundreds of young suburban families with kids munching on chips and McDonalds burgers. But not only that, Thai, Chinese and also Japanese food was very popular with these "average Australians".

I was disgusted by the food because I could see how tasteless and dull the Thai food was and how old and cheap the Sushi looked. This is the totally watered down version of Asia that the average Australian gets in his every day life.

These observations from a flat endless suburbs with endless straight streets with similar-looking houses, interrupted only by huge multi-storey malls only confirmed my previous thoughts. Namely that the Asianisation of Australia is perhaps only applicable to very limited areas.

The suburban north of Melbourne however is clearly white Australian middle-class territory. This also is a strong indication that a majority of Australians perhaps think of Asia as little more than a few Sushi rolls, Pad Thai and Chinese Noodles. In these massive suburban areas Australia not only resembles but actually looks exactly like America, only with different brands of cars, which run on the opposite sides of the street.

These observations however are by no means representative of Melbourne. Melbourne also has its patches of Asian community and traditions. It has a large Vietnamese community and a tradition of Chinese residents dating back to two centuries ago, when Chinese gold diggers flocked to Melbourne and the surrounding cities of Victoria.

I hope I can have another visit to Melbourne reasonably soon so I can document this city's Asianisation a bit more. In the meantime however, the stale and boring taste of suburbia is still numbing my senses...

Australia and Indonesia. Two very different neighbours? (part 3)

First of all, Indonesia has come a long way. Just a few years ago (until 1998), it was trundling along under the heavy hand of Soeharto. Dictatorships don't just neglect people’s basic rights, but they also establish a tightly knit elite, which in turn entrench a culture of cronyism and nepotism, corruption and then eventually social unrest.
Besides the numerous internal problems, dictatorships tend to also give the country a very bad reputation. It will be perceived as backward, perhaps violent and dangerous.

Indonesia used to be seen as exactly this. It was seen as a dangerous country, on the verge of disintegrating. Indonesia made itself no favour by violently acting against separatism, especially in Timor.
This is the political side, but perhaps far more important is the personal side. Indonesia is still seen as a somewhat savage place, where Australians sometimes get mugged, catch diseases and even get killed.
But the strongest images, which are engrained in almost all Australian people’s minds are firstly, images of fellow country people locked up and eventually killed for the use of minor drugs and secondly, boats full of poor refugees being intercepted at sea or even arriving on Australian shores from Indonesia.

The issue of the boat people is dominating in Australia’s relations with Indonesia, and that by itself is an absolutely overblown issue, which is also hardly discussed on the Indonesian side. Interestingly, most of the boat people are in fact legitimate refugees, mostly from Sri Lanka, which eventually get residence in Australia. This is exactly what a country like Australia should do. We are a rich and open country and we should be welcoming to refugees, whose homes have been destroyed.

Indonesia has recently caught a lot of spotlight as the star of Southeast Asia in terms of democratic reform and economic growth. The country is now a vibrant democracy with a burgeoning civil society. Even though still poor, many people are lifted from poverty and become part of a growing middle class.

Because Australia has been busy with China, America (as always), Japan and itself, only few people have noticed the successes in Indonesia. Typically, Australia is trading far more with New Zealand, a country of 4 million with a far smaller economy than Indonesia, than with the 220 million archipelago to the north.

This doesn't just tell us an economic story, it also tells us a story of identity. The reason is relatively simple. Australia feels much more at ease dealing, trading and working together with New Zealanders. Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders have moved to Australia and vice versa too. They speak the same language (nearly) and have a similar past – and also present.
Indonesians on the other hand are perceived as very different. I am actually not even sure if the people as such have a bad reputation, I moreover think they have NO reputation. The knowledge and interest of Australia in Indonesia is very limited. The official Australia, even though always ready to emphasise its importance, sees Indonesia through a lense of problems: people smuggling, terrorism, religious extremism, thereby hugely patronizing its neighbour.

Indonesia in the meantime now wants to be recognized as an equal partner, and recently, the Australia media have taken up this point, with some even arguing that Australia may even become the weaker link.

Lets see if Australia can start to tackle the ghosts of the past and get used to its new role, not as THE leader of the region but as one of two leaders.

Australia and Indonesia. Two very different neighbours? (part 2)

Australia, having a much larger landmass than Indonesia, actually is home to much fewer people. Roughly 22 million live in Australia, compared with an enormous sum of over 230 million in Indonesia.

Australia’s history is clearly defined by its primarily British heritage and colonization. For decades, it was basically a piece of Britain somewhere in the South Pacific. Its identity is shaped by the notion of “distance”. Distance from its “motherland” but also distance between places within the country. People who moved to Australia (including some of my ancestors) were pioneers, people who were seeking for a refuge, far away from their home, but still among people who look, speak and are alike.

In a way, they lived far, far away from the worries of the world, and Australia was the richest country of the world for some time. Then came the wars. On the one hand, Australia asserted its own identity, detached from the motherland. On the other hand though, the wars firmly put Australia’s alignment where it is now: very closely attached to America.

The wars and the ensuing decades didn't just entrench Australia’s alignment with America and still to a certain degree with Europe (and later during the Cold War also with Japan) but also arose fears of invasion from the north.
My grandma, when she was a young girl in Perth still remembers the sirens going off in anticipation of Japanese air attacks in World War 2. People were scared of the masses of Asians to the north. First they were scared of the Japanese, who colonized nearly all of Asia during WWII, but then later also China and Korea during the recent immigration waves, and of course also the giant and wobbly neighbour, Indonesia.

So, a certain fear of Asians is somewhat engrained in parts of Australia’s identity. Unforgotten is also the success of Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party, which campaigned under a single issue, immigration from Asia. She gave this fear a legitimate and political makeover, and was quite successful for a while with this strategy.

Unlike fears of Japan or China however, Australia’s fears of Indonesia don't necessarily stem from the fear of an aggressive push by a great amount of people to conquer Australia, but rather from the fear of disintegration and “Balkanisation” of Indonesia.
Such disintegration would ensue in chaos, insecurity would reign over the Archipelago and supposedly, millions of Indonesians would seek refuge in Australia. This is the ultimate fear and a definite the worst-case scenario for Australia.

These days, a push by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, to increase the population of Australia from 22 million to 35 million in a few decades is met with stern criticism.
Warning voices like to remind other Australians that the country is already now hardly coping with infrastructure (traffic, housing), water supply is critical and the arable land areas are shrinking.

Thus, these conservative and defensive voices try to remind Australians of their old Asian fears, being run over by these millions of “yellow people”, with their old (white) Australia in tatters.
In reality, conservative white supremacists have already lost. Australia’s engagement with its northern neighbours, although not in full bloom yet, is blossoming. Increasing amounts of Asians are studying in Australia, and subsequently make Australia their home.
A lot of what has previously been written on this blog is a testimony to the changed face of (primarily urban) Australia.

But whereas Australia’s relations with Japan, China, Korea and also Singapore have not only seen growth in trade and investment but also an explosion in people-to-people links, relations with Indonesia have somewhat stagnated.
Why is that? Why are the official Australia, the business community, and the people at large so enthusiastic about Australia’s relations with China, Japan and Korea but not necessarily with Indonesia?

Australia and Indonesia. Two very different neighbours? (part 1)

Here in Australia, there has been a lot of buzz recently on the Australian relationship with Indonesia. Especially after last week's official visit of the President of Indonesia to Canberra and Sydney, including 7 ministers and 4 provincial governors (!!!) and addressing a joint session of the Australian Parliament, the discussion of the bilateral relationship intensified.

In my opinion, nothing highlights the occasional awkwardness of Australia in dealing with its Asian geography and proximity better than its shaky and sometimes awkward relationship with Indonesia.

Perhaps it's good to have a look at a map of the region first.

Looking at the position of Australia, it's pretty clear which country should be the main partner of Australia. The Indonesian archipelago lies just a few hundred kilometres to the north of Australia and is by far the nearest landmass from an Australian perspective.

Both countries are immensely large and span several thousand kilometres. It takes about 5 hours to fly from Sydney to Perth (on Australia's west coast) and probably about the same time from Sumatra to Papua in Indonesia's East.

Interestingly, the two countries' economies are also roughly the same size (depending on the way they are measured) and both countries are members of the increasingly crucial G-20 group of nations.

The picture painted is clear. Two large countries with large economies. Two regional powers with clout.

That is however where the similarities end - and the frictions in the two countries' relations begin.

At the Thai Temple

Today, i was in for a special treat, a day at the Thai temple here in Canberra. I used to live in Bangkok before for two years, so I am quite familiar with Thailand, Thai culture and Thai people. I have never taken part at a Buddhist ritual though.

Here in Canberra, I havent quite cut my Thai links. I live with a Thai artist, a lady around 50 years old and former wife of a Thai diplomat. Now she teaches Australian diplomats Thai language and culture and decorates rooms with fabric.

This morning, she took me to the Thai temple for giving food to the monks, praying together and finally, sharing the remaining food with the community.

We were arriving late and I was directed in to give the food to the monks, while the Thai lady was finding a spot to park her car. I entered the temple and far from being looked at as a stranger they have never seen, everyone seemed happy to see me. The expression on people's faces somehow even made me feel that they had always been waiting for me and were now pleased to see me finally arrive. There was absolutely no feeling of distance or skepticism. I was instantly part of the group.

The entrance to Wat Thammadharo. Ironically the building used to host a convent...

I think this is one of the amazing characteristics of Thai people. In Western societies I often feel people need to prove themselves to be accepted as a part of a society. That can be the case in the context of personal relationships, friendships but also for the society as a whole.

In Thailand however, you are immediately given a chance. I have hardly ever felt any negativity, defensiveness or even just distance coming from people. There could be a bit of shyness, but this is not negative as such.

After having given the food to all the 5 monks, and payed them my respect with a wai, I sat down and waited for the monks to start chanting. That was the signal to pour water in a bowl to honour the deceased. Then, we started to sing prayers for 8 minutes while the monks were eating their only meal of the day.

As I couldnt sing the Thai songs, I just rested and thought of my time in Thailand and how I miss a lot of places. After the songs, we observed 5 minutes of quiet and then we could finally take the remaining food to the kitchen and share it among the community.

It was interesting to watch the community while we were all eating. There were Thai woman with local husbands, there was an Indonesian Buddhist woman with an Australian Buddhist husband, a Laotian woman with two little mixed baby boys and a Burmese man.

Everyone somehow interacted even though people didnt know each other. The numerous kids were cuddled and touched, picked up and sometimes even scolded by all sorts of other people. At some point, the lady I know just had a baby in her arms and didnt know whose baby it was. Such is the trust among the people.

The local abbot, who said I look like Elton John....

Then, there was also the abbot who came to thank me for coming. He said I should come again, congratulated me on my Thai and remarked that I look like Elton John. And then he started to sing "Candle in the Wind..."

Australia Endeavour Awards

Today, I went to a little function here in Canberra. It was about the Australia Endeavour Awards, which are given to outstanding students from abroad who want to come and study in Australia, but also to Australian students going abroad.

Interestingly, most of the awardees either came from Asia (mostly Southeast Asia) or went to Asia for their studies (I met two Australians who are going to Beijing later this year for one year study and one year internship at a company). These are amazing programmes, not just for students but also to foster intercultural dialogue and exchange, I think.

All the worse then that I was the only European at this function. It was all about Asia, Asia and Asia. A lady from the Endeavour Awards team came to me though and happily said that they have now just started to include Europe too.

Of course this is all again just proof how much Australia is veering towards Asia. It wants to understand Asia better but also improve the Asian people's image of Australia. It is also desperate for human resources, and interestingly it wants to recruit them in Asia too.

Perhaps however, the fact that I was the only person representing a European country at this meeting also shows our indifference to Australia. No wonder Australia is turning to Asia instead.

The meeting itself was a attended by a curious mix of diplomats, (interestingly only from Southeast Asia and the Middle East) award winners and programme administrators. I, being a junior member of an Embassy dont get taken quite so seriously by the attending diplomats, it seems.

The Vietnamese Ambassador looked at my name and function in disbelief and gave his business card to other people in the group, not to me though. It seems that representing a country is sometimes not enough for some people, you also have to look "senior and important".

In the meantime, while the Syrian, Sri Lankan and Vietnamese Ambassadors enjoyed each other's company, drinking several glasses of wine each, with their Mercedes Benz Limousines including drivers waiting outside, I went about my business and made great contacts with Australians who work in the education business. I told them about my country and how we are interested to have more exposure for our universities here in Australia, and they were delighted.

This little function was just one of a plethora of meetings, functions, exhibition openings, presentations and excursions to which all the Ambassadors are invited literally every single day. I dont know how much important links and connections they make during these events but I suspect the food and wine is just as important...

To quote my Ambassador, after I gave someone a choice of 4 possible dates to meet him. "Cancel two of these, an Ambassdor doesnt have THAT much time."

From Sydney to Canberra

Last week, I officially moved to Canberra from Sydney.

Whereas Sydney is without a doubt the Asian capital of Australia, Canberra is a small city in the hills where the predominantly white working class, the numerous Australian public service employees, the large and international student community and the cosmopolitan and slightly reclusive diplomatic communities only sometimes mix.

My perception and feelings towards Canberra after the first week is largely formed by the last group, the diplomatic communities. It's quite amazing to walk past 10 embassies and the Prime Minister's home on the way to work every morning.

Impessive seal of the Philippine Embassy

Fenced gates, waving flags, imposing coat of arms next to the entrances, almost-silly national details, buildings which alternate in style between the mock-home architecture of Indian temples, Turkish mediterranea, American red bricks with white windows and Irish country homes and solidly imposing office buildings (European Union).

In a way, the diplomatic community in Canberra does not quite follow "real-world" alliances and friendships neither geographically nor personally. The embassies are seemingly distributed by pure coincidence.

The Australian Prime Minister's home faces the Italian Embassy. Belgium and the United States are neighbours. Turkey and India's Embassies are right next to the Philippine representation.

The Turkish Embassy in all its mediterranean grandeur

Our embassy is facing the Cambodian and Maltese Embassies on one side and the Austrian Residence on the other.(our real geographic neighbour). However, I have never heard our Ambassador talk about Austria. Instead, he is personal friends with the Japanese and the French Ambassadorial couples.

A touch of the Taj Mahal, the Indian High Commission

All these examples are indication to the fascinating sub-culture of the diplomats in Canberra. As such, the environment I am living in now is very different from the real-life dominance of Asians in the Sydney suburb of Chatswood, where i previously lived.

American classicism in Australia. The US Embassy.

I am very curious if my first observations in this little cosmos of diplomats and politicians will hold up in the following weeks and months. Is there still such a thing as neighbourly and regional love in the lofty diplomatic circles or can I find some sort of regional identity, especially of Asian countries thousands of kilometres from "home"?

All pictures taken from Flickr, user peskiepete

Korean Hairdressers

I have great respect for Koreans. Wherever they go, they quickly form communities, organise and group themselves and help each other out. They are also very quick to start businesses where they see an opportunity.

Since the Korean community is so strong here in Chatswood (the suburb of Sydney I am residing in), opportunities to sell Korea-related products and services are numerous.

Hairdressers are perhaps a field where Koreans are not expected to become so active. However here in Chatswood, I saw only one non-Korean hairdresser shop and about eight Korean ones.

Shops selling products and services owned by immigrants often target a specific community, mostly the home country of the immigrants. There are Thai grocery shops mostly frequented by Thai people. There is a Filipino Sari-Sari (variety) shop here in Chatswood where the local community meets and exchanges the latest gossip.

Korean hairdressers however do not fit into this category. They are not only targeted at and frequented by the Korean community, but also by other people. They are relatively cheap, abundant and usually offer good and reliable cuts.

The workers in these shops however sometimes hardly speak English and probably just come to Australia to earn some money for a few months.

The fact that Korean shops are far more frequent than other Asian shops not just regarding to hairdressers but also in beauty, skin care and partly also in fashion might be reflecting wider trends in Asia.

Recently, Korea has been dominating in terms of pop-culture in nearly the whole of Asia. Teenagers in Jakarta, Bangkok and even in China aspire to Korean boy- and girl groups and watch Korean TV drama series. In wishing to look like their idols, boys and girls across Asia emanate their idol's styles and generally become very receptive towards everything from Korea.

The Korean government, wary of the positive side-effects of a domination in pop-culture smartly uses this situation as a way to increase its reputation and influence across the wider Asia-Pacific. Riding on this wave of popularity, Korea has also turned into an Asian powerhouse in fashion and beauty.

It might then actually be that this Korean dominance is also reaching Australian shores. Far from suggesting that the "average white Australian" might suddenly become infatuated with Korean pop-culture, it is however likely that Korea is also dominating the large Asian communities within Australia's urban centres in these industries precisely due to the "Korean wave" of pop-culture.

Korean hairdressers are therefore, I believe, a sign of the integration of urban Australia in Asia. Australian towns may often have Chinatowns, Korea- or Thai-towns but really, the urban centres of Australia are little Asia-towns in their entirety, where the adoption of Asia-wide phenomena can be observed almost immediately.

Chinese New Year 2

Even though Chinese New Year was last weekend, yesterday was the highlight of the CNY celebrations in Sydney - the parade.

The CNY parade must be one of the highlights in Sydney's annual calendar, judging by the thousands of people lining the streets and by the political figures taking part.

The parade features dozens of groups, mainly locally based Chinese organisations. More impressive than the groups' spectacularly colourful displays was the depth of Chinese community groups taking part.

There were geographically based groups (Sydney-Shanghai and Sydney-Guangzhou organisations), educational and youth groups (school talents, parents of disabled children, Chinese Youth Organisation), media groups (TV's, newspapers, radios), cultural groups (dance etc) and also business groups.

This breadth of organisations and social groups is indicative of a few interesting facts.

-Chinese groups seem to be very well organised among themselves and quite engaged in social activities.

-The Chinese population however doesnt just seem to be active among themselves, but there are also quite a number of Australia-Chinese societies and groups.

-It would be interesting to know whether the more active groups are linking Australia with Mainland China or other countries/regions such as Taiwan, Malaysia or Singapore.

- the sheer size of the parade was astonishing and is indicative of the societal, cultural and geographical ties of Australia and the wider Chinese communities.

This year, the parade enjoyed the presence of the guest city, Chongqing, the largest, and mostly unknown city in the centre of China. Their representatives presented colourful displays with lanterns and the much-loved dragon shows (above to the left).



For the first time, the Chinese communities were also joined by the Vietnamese and the Korean communities, who also celebrate (lunar) new year at the same time. This was a significant move, as it gives the parade a more pan-Asian flavour and includes other important Asian communities.

Not only did the festival show that the Asian communities in Sydney are active and show enthusiastic presence, but it also demonstrated the general curiousness of Sydneysiders towards this festival. They have somewhat adopted it as their own, judging from the amount of Caucasian Australian families, coming out to show their children the parade.

Perhaps one of the most striking symbols of the interconnectedness of Australia and Asia was the presence of the Chinese Australian war veteran organisation with a handful of elderly men, who fought in the many wars of the last century, proudly displaying their medals and waving Australian flags.

Chinese New Year

Happy New Year. I wish you all a successful, peaceful and fulfilled year of the TIGER.

I live in Chatswood, a suburb in the inner north of Sydney, about 20 minutes away from the city by train. Chatswood is dominated by two large malls and some shopping streets in between these malls. Outside of the shopping area, apartments and houses are home to a very large community of inhabitants of Asian origins.

Whereas ethnic Chinese from the Mainland, Malaysia and Singapore dominate, there is also an impressive presence of Koreans and a growing number of Indian residents.

This weekend, Chinese New Year celebrations were held in Chatswood. There were a few stalls in the main shopping street advertising Chinese property businesses, Chinese culture clubs and theatres, Australian quarantine rules (Chinese travellers do have a reputation of not complying with the strict quarantine rules) and other businesses.

In the middle of it all, a stage was set up and Chinese music from different parts of China was played.

A group of boys in costumes, some with dragon masks and were also going about the streets and entering most shops amid loud metallic noise coming from their cymbals. It was astonishing to see that the group didn't discriminate between Chinese and non-Chinese shops to enter and wish the shopkeepers a successful new year.

Although most of the public watching the spectacle was of Chinese origin, a large minority was either from other Asian origins or Caucasian Australians. The interest was considerable and most people, regardless of their origin stopped for some time.

Perhaps it would be going too far to claim that such cultural festivals have an integrative effect on the wider community. However, it seems apparent that since people from such a variety of backgrounds attended the Chinese New Year festivities, cultural events not only broaden the mind of the community but also demonstrate the cultural openness of the population in general.

A Short Introduction: Asia in Europe and Australia

I grew up in the middle of Europe, a place where people are generally not very knowledgeable about Asia. There are exceptions. The French and British have some knowledge about their former colonies and usually at least can point out some Asian countries on a map. They are also somewhat familiar with Asian cuisine (think curries in Britain), share rivalries in sport (England and its former colonies in cricket) and perhaps even know someone from Asia personally. Such direct personal connections however do remain rarities and the general knowledge about Asia but also the interest in Asia is limited.

More recently however, Europeans have increasingly started to notice Asia. Whereas countries like Japan and China have become somewhat fashionable to a broader middle and upper class, many Europeans at the same time also fear the surging economies of Asia.

Attitudes towards Asia however have not changed greatly changed since the very beginnings of European relations with Asia. Asia has always been, and still is “the other” and the exotic in the distant East. This is very much the view from a continent, which has dominated the world economically and also culturally for many centuries; or at least would like to think that it has.

It is out of this perception of dominance and superiority that an attitude of ignorance, nonchalance and exoticisation has managed to take a hold and persist until today.

Whereas most Europeans have largely managed to remain distant to an “exotic” Asia, I have become increasingly interested in Asia the last few years. Living in New Zealand gave me a first taste of Asia, as I made numerous of friends and acquaintances from various Asian countries during these years. I have also been living with Korean people for the best part of the last five years. I have travelled extensively across Asia and in the last two years, I have lived in Bangkok, the bustling capital of Thailand and perhaps one of the most exciting urban places on earth.

It is from this background, and also from reading countless articles, blog entries and from talking to friends and acquaintances where I take my perhaps still limited but growing knowledge and fascination for Asia.

Recently, I have decided to start my professional career in Australia, probably the closest one can live to Asia without actually being in Asia. As far as I can tell so far, Australia offers a totally different experience to Europe in terms of the presence and influence of Asia. Most Australians roughly know about Asia’s geography, they are far more acquainted with Asian food, which is found on every street corner. Many Australians have travelled to – or at least through Asia and a high number of Australians interact regularly with Asian people.

Factors, which have contributed strongly to an “Asianisation” of Australia, are the geographic proximity, political, economic and societal pressures in the different Asian countries, the prevalence of the English language (thus attracting a large number of foreign students and their families) and the relative openness of the Australian society to new arrivals from Asia (this being a more recent phenomenon).

The reality of a strong Asian physical presence in Australia, especially in the large cities, coupled with strong economic and political ties has led to not only a general realisation of the importance of Asia for Australians but also to increased interactions and the integration of a certain “Asian Lifestyle” into the everyday life of many Australians.

The content of this blog will involve my personal observations of “Asia in Australia”. It will discuss everyday experiences, which in a way involve Asia in Australia. As with every blog however, planning the content at the beginning of a blog is not easy. Experienced bloggers know that frequently, blogs can take surprising turns and evolve into something surprising and unintended.

Therefore, let us now get started and find out about Asia in Australia.