I went for some Seminars organised by AIESEC and a couple of the workshops that I attended were on "Doing Business in Asia" or somewhere along those lines. I had suspected prior to going to these workshops that it will inevitably veer towards "Doing Business in China" instead. And true enough, it certainly did. Suddenly Asia = China. Well. With China's burgeoning economy, it's hardly surprising that China is grabbing the headlines instead. I had thought that there might be some discussions about relations with S.E.A given Australia's close proximity to this region. And with ASEAN striving to improve its economic clout, I thought it would be interesting to examine how would relations between Australia and ASEAN countries unfold. Nonetheless, the discussions that entailed between the Speaker and members of the audience gradually turned into a Mini East vs West debate.
Over some time, the topic actually drifted to treatment of overseas students here in Australia. Apparently, there are quite a few students who also felt the overseas students here are being marginalised and raised the issue of the attitude of local students towards overseas students. Some of the locals started to defend their actions and I felt it was clear from their arguments that they weren't very interested in interacting with the overseas students anyway. I was tempted to comment on several occasions but wasn't sure if my comments would have been too provocative. =X Hmmm....
More recently, there was a current affairs programme on television that reported that immigrants from Asia has, for the first time, exceeded the number of immigrants from Europe and the 'western countries'. And that this is a worrying trend that is "Splitting Australia into 2". Cool huh. Us and Them. Well, in the first place, Australia belongs to the aboriginal people, not them. The indigenous Australians have inhabited this place throughout history until the British arrived with the convicts in 18th century.
The programme subsequently interviewed 2 groups of Asians, a couple of Chinese students and a Malaysian-Chinese family, both of whom have been here for a couple of years. They asked questions concerning aspects of Australian culture which they were not able to answer. This clearly portrayed Asians in negative light as people who wants to stay in this country but yet know nothing about it. I feel this is grossly unfair as it is by no means certain that an immigrant from a 'Western Country' would have known the answers to those questions.
There was also the question, "Do you feel Australia is or will become part of Asia?" I think it's inevitable that as time progresses, Australia will have to strengthen its links with Asia given its geographical location (which is actually in the middle of nowhere). Already we have seen Australia competing in the Asian Cup for soccer, despite being dumped ruthlessly by Japan. International students have become a major source of funding for Universities here. Not to mention the economic reality of distancing yourself from Asia.
The same programme also reported of serious lapses in the maintenance work carried out by Singapore Airlines Engineering Company (SIAEC) on Qantas aircrafts. It was found on a Qantas Boeing 747-400 that the wiring was STAPLED together at several locations and pictures were shown. It also reported that SIAEC missed out on several major defects on the aircraft. For such an issue to be raised on national television, i wouldn't doubt the accuracy of the report. I was however surprised that such an incident would come from SIAEC. I think SIA has sold off this division some time ago to concentrate on its core business but nonetheless, it is not something that I would expect from such a major Aerospace Engineering firm in Singapore. Any reports of this in SG?
Also, check out this article. Apparently, the Singapore Government is set to own more Australian assets than than Aust. Govt itself.
www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/eaten-by-singapore/2007/07/21/1184560106866.html
Alright. That was a long long post. For those who skipped the above, there's at least some photos to entertain you people. Haha.
Sumptuous breakfast after my overnight flight...
I had to 'floor' the accelerator after this pit stop. Decided against posting an interesting picture of what Des and Geng were doing in this short stop though. =P
Wheeee..... Look who's driving..
Penguins...at Phillip Island
Des trying to be extra in the picture.. Haha..
Some "Cam-whoring" in the fitting room.
Au Revoir babes.. And as you can see, Des bought that jacket. Haha.
