asians in australia: cause for concern?


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Murcielago

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Mar 14, 2005
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i just read the news report about a malaysian man stabbing ppl in australia and honestly i am afraid for myself when I go there to perth in the coming weeks for studies. the fact that the man murdered some locals doesnt bode well for those going there or currently still there.

i feel aussies aren't very friendly and sometimes hostile/violent towards asians. doesnt matter whether chinese, malay, etc. See first, whack. they dont really care whether u are from malaysia or indonesia, china or whatever.


any current students in perth can comment?

seriously, i am asking for everyone's advice here.
 

i just read the news report about a malaysian man stabbing ppl in australia and honestly i am afraid for myself when I go there to perth in the coming weeks for studies. the fact that the man murdered some locals doesnt bode well for those going there or currently still there.

i feel aussies aren't very friendly and sometimes hostile/violent towards asians. doesnt matter whether chinese, malay, etc. See first, whack. they dont really care whether u are from malaysia or indonesia, china or whatever.


any current students in perth can comment?

seriously, i am asking for everyone's advice here.

anyplace is dangerous... Crime and Racism exists everywhere. if you're so afraid then stay in your well. otherwise go and live your live.
 

Yes there are aussies that are racists but they are not the majority. There are heaps of Aussies who are really nice people and are very open to Asians.

Let me share with you my experiences when I was a student in Melbourne in 1998.

On my first night in Melbourne, a car pulled up along side me and 3 white aussies spew vulgarities at me and in short ask me "chink come s*** his d*** and to f*** back to where youI come from" and this was my 2nd hour in Australia having just landed and taking a walk after checking into the hotel.

When registering for courses in school, I had an admin staff who refused to help me and basically told me off in my face. "Im not helping you!" but was all smiles to fellow white aussies.

My housemate came home in tears, cause a guy pushed his way in front of her while she was queing for Subway and told her "F*** u Chink....."

When looking for a house, some landlords when they knew the people asking were non white aussies, they immediately informed the agent to reject us.

However having said all of the above. I have also encountered the following.

My head of department, a veteran professor apologizing to us in public for the racist acts against us.

Aussies that you dont know at all, going out of their way to help you out when u are lost.

Aussie friends who endured getting racist taunts from other aussies for being "losers" as they are hanging out with "chinks" and still remain your good friends.

Aussies that I become so close to that we are like brothers and will do anything for each other.

What Im trying to say is that there is racism of course. There is in every country even here... look at the way we treat foreign workers as untouchables that we have residents forming watchgroups to make sure foreign workers don't sit under their void decks. However that that doesn't make us all racists does it? Same for Australia, yes you have your racism here and there and someone like Pauline Hanson. However same time you will find lots of nice people who are genuine and friendly. And yes of course... most of them always wonder "do you know gong fu??" :)
 

Yes there are aussies that are racists but they are not the majority. There are heaps of Aussies who are really nice people and are very open to Asians.

Let me share with you my experiences when I was a student in Melbourne in 1998.

On my first night in Melbourne, a car pulled up along side me and 3 white aussies spew vulgarities at me and in short ask me "chink come s*** his d*** and to f*** back to where youI come from" and this was my 2nd hour in Australia having just landed and taking a walk after checking into the hotel.

When registering for courses in school, I had an admin staff who refused to help me and basically told me off in my face. "Im not helping you!" but was all smiles to fellow white aussies.

My housemate came home in tears, cause a guy pushed his way in front of her while she was queing for Subway and told her "F*** u Chink....."

When looking for a house, some landlords when they knew the people asking were non white aussies, they immediately informed the agent to reject us.

However having said all of the above. I have also encountered the following.

My head of department, a veteran professor apologizing to us in public for the racist acts against us.

Aussies that you dont know at all, going out of their way to help you out when u are lost.

Aussie friends who endured getting racist taunts from other aussies for being "losers" as they are hanging out with "chinks" and still remain your good friends.

Aussies that I become so close to that we are like brothers and will do anything for each other.

What Im trying to say is that there is racism of course. There is in every country even here... look at the way we treat foreign workers as untouchables that we have residents forming watchgroups to make sure foreign workers don't sit under their void decks. However that that doesn't make us all racists does it? Same for Australia, yes you have your racism here and there and someone like Pauline Hanson. However same time you will find lots of nice people who are genuine and friendly. And yes of course... most of them always wonder "do you know gong fu??" :)

how recent was all this?
 

I think I am pretty lucky. I studied in Melbourne for 4 years and _never_ I encounter any racism.

I am Indonesian Chinese, looked really Chinese but dont speak Chinese at all.
I mixed with all including Australian, Russian, Serbian, Jews, Srilankan, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Singaporean, a bit less Indonesian (cos all they want from me is to copy my assignments) even once stayed with Iranian doing PhD (his girlfriend is really gorgeous and has beautiful eyes - similar to that Nat.Geo afghan girl but more green/blueish eyes, unfortunately I have not gone into Photography that time - still poor student back then).

Choice of Uni might help. I studied in Monash uni, which has over 20% foreign students.
That was over 14 years ago. Things might have changed.
 

AFAIK.. to avoid trouble..
1. only if neccessary, go out in groups at night
2. generally the aussies are pretty ok, only a small Minority population in the younger age group (<25) will find trouble with asians..

and i am sure Perth has more asians than where i am based at the moment, which is Wollongong, basically a retirement and student city..
you should do fine over there. BCCT anybody? :cheers:
 

i just read the news report about a malaysian man stabbing ppl in australia and honestly i am afraid for myself when I go there to perth in the coming weeks for studies. the fact that the man murdered some locals doesnt bode well for those going there or currently still there.

i feel aussies aren't very friendly and sometimes hostile/violent towards asians. doesnt matter whether chinese, malay, etc. See first, whack. they dont really care whether u are from malaysia or indonesia, china or whatever.


any current students in perth can comment?

seriously, i am asking for everyone's advice here.

The case is about an Asian fight in which a man was stabbed to death and two others were seriously injured:

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23119186-949,00.html
 

btw isn't melbourne having trouble with street crime? or am i misinformed?
 

btw isn't melbourne having trouble with street crime? or am i misinformed?

every major city in aust. has its own crime problems, not limited to just melbourne..

for the record, mine had a couple of serious rock throwing incidents in which 1 of the victims was seriously hurt and required surgery to the skull.. :sweat:
 

every major city in aust. has its own crime problems, not limited to just melbourne..

for the record, mine had a couple of serious rock throwing incidents in which 1 of the victims was seriously hurt and required surgery to the skull.. :sweat:

wa someone try to stone someone else is it?
 

I find the Aussies generally friendly. It's just that a fair minority spoil the whole flock. Perhaps being in bigger cities like Sydney has it's perks...

My landlords are very nice Aussies. :thumbsup:
 

erm.. here is a quick link.. if you want more details.. google is your best friend :)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/23/1985116.htm

aiya i wasn't asking for the full story it was a retorical question... :sweat:...though i have to say that stuff like that ain't surprising considering the weird crap that comes outta america.
 

I've had racist encounters in Australia. people telling me to go home, people telling me that I stink as a yellow skinned person.

I've also had pleasant encounters with Australians. them asking me over for a barbi when they find out I'm a foreigner in their homeland for the first time. them buying me a round of drinks at a pub. them giving me a big bear hug when Jean Aloisi scored against Uruguay to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

it was the same talk that they had when Singapore sentenced a Vietnamese Aussie to death for smuggling drugs through Singapore. did I ever feel threatened walking down the streets of Melbourne? no. in fact, I had a few Australians come up to me and said that they support the death sentence in this case.

trust me. worry less, and enjoy the time you're gonna have in the land down under. racism is gonna happen anywhere and everywhere in the world, even in Singapore. just look at how we treat our foreign domestic workers and labourers and you'll know what I mean.
 

Most Aussies are friendly. Even I encountered racism way back in 1995 when I was a student in Toowoomba, at the University of Southern Queensland.

Math tutorial with the lecturer who is a professor. Every time we asian students asked him about the questions in the book, he would just say "It's in the book" and walk away, without explaining to us what we wanted to know and everytime the aussie stidents asked, they got their answer.

It came to a point where the aussie student, who was an employee of the uni, studying for his masters, approached us and asked us to give him the questions so that he could ask on our behalf.

But our other lectueres and tutors were so much more friendly and wanted to know more of our culture too.
 

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