In other words, Australia is truly multicultural and people from non-white backgrounds have their rightful place under the country’s political sun.
So far, this informal message continues to be wildly successful upon social media. If a single kept track of what individuals were saying within Vietnam, Indonesia and especially Malaysia, there is no doubt that the personal story about her own background did resonate numerous netizens from the area.
Wong backed up her informal message with a video message delivered in Bahasa Indonesia, the most widely spoken language in the region.
In her visit to Malaysia, she purposely made a side trip to Kota Kinabalu, on the island of Borneo, to see her “hometown” exactly where she spent the girl childhood before moving back to Australia with her mother. The girl went for a nearby breakfast with the girl brother (who nevertheless lives in KK) plus later visited the particular grave of the girl grandmother.
By openly embracing the girl Southeast Asian origins, she is telling the location that not only is definitely Australia part of the area, but the region will be directly represented in the highest level of the Australian government simply by someone who “gets” the location.
HARDER IN ORDER TO WIN OVER POLICY ELITES
So , the question is: Will this individual narrative – or even “soft power” within international relations speak – work in Australia’s favour?
Seen pragmatically, this sort of approach won’t work at the elite level in Southeast Asia. Sure, ordinary people in the region are probably happy that an individual of Southeast Oriental background is now the general public face of Australia’s diplomacy, but what exactly they want probably can’t end up being delivered by Dime Wong.
For instance , a constant complaint We hear is just how difficult it is to obtain an Australian visa, even a tourist australian visa. There is also the issue of educational scholarships for nations in the region – you will find never enough to fulfill the demand.