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his is a comment on an article titled “Australia’s long journey to multiculturalism,” (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 30, p. 7) by Ratih Hardjono, Jakarta.

 Thank you for the great article. The other day, I discussed the topic of a better Asian country to live in. Australia was included in the list. Australia seems to be less glamorous than Singapore. Less modern than Seoul. Less cute than Tokyo.

And face it, it’s not an Asian country — it’s a Western country. Asian-Australians can be mayors, ministers and doctors, but they are yet to become Olympians, star news anchors or Hollywood A-listers.

But here’s the clincher: Which Asian country accepts multiculturalism? Certainly not Japan or Korea, which pride themselves as single-race nations. It is certainly not Singapore or Malaysia, where locals in the former are grumbling about “job-stealing migrants” and where politicians in the latter are telling Chinese and Indian Malaysians to “go home”. We did not kid ourselves about Indonesia.

The only answer is Australia.

Which Asian society believes in freedom, equality and civil rights? Where the media can discuss politics without fear? From all democracies in Asia, which ones believe in the virtues of debate and dialogue?

Which country defines citizenship by law instead of religion or ethnicity? Where the government, the law, and the people are strong? Looking at the whole of Asia while excluding Australia, we were stuck. But when Australia was included, we had our closest answer.

Mario Rustan
Bandung