In regard to national value or Australian value, I am personally encounter this issue myself. I am an Australian citizen, however, was born in Thailand and decided to be part of Australia after studied here. Among friends and classmates, I still very much refer myself as a “Thai” person. However, when dealing with government agency, I will refer myself as an “Australian” and will produce my Australian passport together with my driver license as part of my ID. That is just for formality.
I have a few friends who were born in Australia, but still call themselves Chinese among Asian friends. However, call themselves Australian among their Australian friends and classmates. Surprisingly, not many of them called themselves Chinese-Australian or Asian-Australian. It seems that what they want to call themselves is really depends on the situation and group of friends that they are dealing with, at that point in time. Those who were born here are easily identified, just listen to their accent!!!
Since 9-11 attack in US, Australian government has tighten its border and migration policy. Its enforced all visa applicants to acknowledge the Australian way of life in their visa application form. The “Australian Value” and “Way of Life” had been a centred of political debate for quite sometime. And here we are discuss about the “truly Australian” issues.
It is hard to determine “what is” or “who is” can be “truly Australian”. It is really depends on their upbringing, family, education and people they are associate with. I have a friend who are 2nd generation Australian, however, he doesn’t seems to care much about being Australian or being Asian. He just live his life as per normal. That is also apply to myself, as a 1st generation Australian. There are other more important things in life than just worry about being Asian or being Australian. Guess that we just have to go with the flow and live our lives as it is. We just have be aware of the environment surrounding us. If we go out with Asian friends, perhaps, we just have to represent ourselves as an Asian. In the same way, if we go out with Australian friends, perhaps, we just have to represent ourselves as an Australian. It might seems hard at first, however, it is become easy once we used to it.
I have a few friends who were born in Australia, but still call themselves Chinese among Asian friends. However, call themselves Australian among their Australian friends and classmates. Surprisingly, not many of them called themselves Chinese-Australian or Asian-Australian. It seems that what they want to call themselves is really depends on the situation and group of friends that they are dealing with, at that point in time. Those who were born here are easily identified, just listen to their accent!!!
Since 9-11 attack in US, Australian government has tighten its border and migration policy. Its enforced all visa applicants to acknowledge the Australian way of life in their visa application form. The “Australian Value” and “Way of Life” had been a centred of political debate for quite sometime. And here we are discuss about the “truly Australian” issues.
It is hard to determine “what is” or “who is” can be “truly Australian”. It is really depends on their upbringing, family, education and people they are associate with. I have a friend who are 2nd generation Australian, however, he doesn’t seems to care much about being Australian or being Asian. He just live his life as per normal. That is also apply to myself, as a 1st generation Australian. There are other more important things in life than just worry about being Asian or being Australian. Guess that we just have to go with the flow and live our lives as it is. We just have be aware of the environment surrounding us. If we go out with Asian friends, perhaps, we just have to represent ourselves as an Asian. In the same way, if we go out with Australian friends, perhaps, we just have to represent ourselves as an Australian. It might seems hard at first, however, it is become easy once we used to it.
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