At the end of the Second World War, Australia remained very tightly, and in a most inhumane way, in the grip of its White Australia policy. This policy reflected the unrealistic and indefensible hope of a white nation remaining an outpost of far-away Europe, whilst occupying land stolen from its black owners, even though it is set in a world of predominantly coloured people.
In reality, the land of Australia was seen by its occupants for thousands of years (long before European man became the principal despoilers of planet Earth) as owning them, the people. In reality, too, there are people in White Australia who (apparently) have blood from coloured ancestors they would rather not recognize, as it has become fashionable to regard ‘coloured’ blood as inferior. But it is quite acceptable, and indeed quite desirable, to have coloured, and therefore inferior, people fight and die in wars to protect the white man’s interests.
A parallel exists, in modern times, in what was referred to by an Australian wit (perhaps a half-wit) as “the greatest gang-bang in history”. This was when a white-controlled nation sent its predominantly black and Christian armed forces to protect its own interests, and that of a predominantly white and Jewish people, against a brown and Muslim nation (sure, Satanic Saddie had to be controlled before he swallowed his democratic oil-filled neighbour, none of whose troops seemed to have been involved in this ‘war’).
So, Australians in office quietly forget that the Australian war effort had been supported or aided by coloured people from a variety of countries. Some of these, like the Papua New Guineans, had helped to save Australians from the Japanese. However, the policy makers in Australia were not touched by Shakespeare’s, “For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother”. Perhaps they had not heard of Shakespeare.
(This extract represents the opening paragraphs of my first book ‘Destiny Will Out: the experiences of a multicultural Malayan in White Australia,’ published in 1997. The post-publication academic and other reviews were most favourable. These can be read at the end of the recently-issued ebook version – refer Amazon.)
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 