 |
| The Vietnamese refugee community in Brisbane commemorated their great benefactor, former PM Malcolm Fraser at the St Mark's Church, 96 Lilac Street Inala on 31 Mar 2015. Source: ngocanhle |
NgocAnhLe: On Friday, 20 March 2015, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has died at the age of 84. This is not just bad news for Australia , but also for a community of 300 thousand Vietnamese in Australia because He was the great benefactor of Vietnamese refugees in Australia. It was He who opened the door to receive Vietnamese boat people when He became Prime Minister in November 1975.
Malcolm Fraser is a Prime Minister having serious points of view for the Australia community. Almost on this period, after his dead, the Australia is focusing on his accomplishments, knowing Him as a pioneer on supporting more achievements on humane policy, human rights and equality.
And one thing all people recognize, and note his brave decision based on a humanitarian while opening arms to accept thousands of Vietnamese people drastically running out to leave their country, fleeing the Communist regime after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
At that time of the day, it's a brave and courageous decision of him! A decision based on the humane compassion. If not, thousand Vietnamese refugees would have no standing here, and their next generations would not be available.
This is the truth. History has recorded that.
For us, Malcolm Fraser is a Great Benefactor.
And because of that the Vietnamese community in Australia would honor Him, now and forevermore.
Vale Malcolm Fraser and rest in peace!
 | ||||
The Vietnamese refugee community in Brisbane commemorated their great benefactor, former PM Malcolm Fraser at the St Mark's Church, 96 Lilac Street Inala on 31 Mar 2015. Source: ngocanhle
Brisbane 31 March 2015
NgocAnhLe http://tiengnoividan.blogspot.com Malcolm Fraser was the great benefactor of the Vietnamese refugee community in Australia
oooOOOooo
|
Vale the ‘father’ who gave Vietnamese new life
MALCOLM Fraser was the great benefactor of the Vietnamese refugee community in Australia (“Farewell to a true liberal everyone could admire’’, 21-22/3). Thanks to his compassionate policy, thousands of refugees who fled the communists following their victory over South Vietnam were given asylum in Australia.
Many Vietnamese saw him as a second father, for he had given them the precious gift of freedom and the chance for a new life. It was not unusual for kids of the second or third generation of Vietnamese Australians to approach Mr Fraser at community functions to say thanks to him in person, because their parents always told them that thanks to him that they had the great fortune to be citizens of this wonderful country.
In one function, Mr Fraser was asked what advice he would give to Australians of Vietnamese background. He smiled and said, “Love Australia, do your best for Australia’’.
I hope that the love that Vietnamese-Australians have for this country, and their achievements, had made their second father proud.
Quynh Dao, North Balwyn, Vic
WITHOUT Malcolm Fraser’s humanitarianism, thousands of Vietnamese refugees would not have opportunities to rebuild their life in Australia. Without his multiculturalism, I could not have university degrees and my children would not have good jobs in big companies.
Rest in peace, Malcolm, the father and grandfather of the Vietnamese refugees.
Phat Thai, Bulleen, Vic
oooOOOooo
According to The Sydney Morning Herald
The Vietnamese refugee with so much to thank former prime minister Malcolm Fraser for
Malcolm Fraser was the greatest Australian prime minister for human rights, compassion and social justice, former asylum seeker says.
He was a medical officer with the South Vietnam army when he was captured by enemy forces and detained in a concentration camp for three years and starved by his communist captors as part of their brainwashing process.
Released in 1978, Dr Tien Manh Nguyen tried unsuccessfully to flee the country several times before finally escaping in 1980 in a small boat with his fiancee and her 13-year-old brother who had to leave their sick mother behind.
The threesome braved rough seas and visits by Thai fishermen-turned-pirates and after a 10-day voyage managed to reach Malaysian shores. But it was prime minister Malcolm Fraser and his two immigration ministers who were the real heroes according to Dr Nguyen. Thanks to Mr Fraser's reversal of Gough Whitlam's policy on refugees Dr Nguyen and his fiancee, Ai-Minh, now his wife, and her brother were allowed to settle in Australia.
But that indirect help wasn't the end of Mr Fraser's involvement with the family.
Dr Nguyen's brother-in-law, Kien Cao-Xuan, who was looked after by a foster family, had a school excursion to Canberra in 1982. He wrote a letter before the trip asking for help to bring his still very sick mother to Australia from Vietnam.
"On the excursion they saw Mr Fraser.They weren't supposed to meet with him but seeing Mr Fraser he ran and basically gave him the letter," Dr Nguyen said.
"Three weeks later he [Mr Fraser] sent my brother-in-law a letter of support to show Immigration. The next year the mother was accepted to come to Australia."
Now Dr Nguyen, living in West Pennant Hills, and his brother-in-law are both GPs. With his wife, a piano teacher,Dr Nguyen had three daughters, all of whom have been through university. In 1987 he formed the Council of Vietnamese Refugees Supporting Organisations to help other Vietnamese asylum seekers.
In a speech at their 30th anniversary in 2011 he said: "I was so lucky to be in this wonderful country. To me and all other Indochinese refugees, the then PM Malcolm Fraser and two ministers for immigration of that period, Mr Michael McKellar and Mr Ian McPhee were real heroes who reversed Whitlam's policy and gave us a chance to resettle in Australia."
Such was the link that Mr Fraser retained with the Vietnamese community that a member of his family on Friday rang the president of the Vietnamese Community in Victoria to tell them of his death before the news was released.
Dr Nguyen added: "Of all the prime ministers of Australia Malcolm Fraser is great, if not the greatest, in the area of human rights, of compassion and of social justice. What he did was never done before by any prime minister. There was nobody who could match him in those areas like Aboriginal land rights, his strong stand against apartheid and his promotion of multiculturalism and especially taking in the Vietnamese refugees.
"To us he is a true hero. He set a shining example for us all in terms of compassion towards other human beings."
Tim Barlass
oooOOOooo
According to the: News.com.au
Malcolm Fraser dead at 84: Former PM passes away
His government rejuvenated the nation’s immigration program, accepting hundreds of thousands of migrants during its eight years in power, including more than 50,000 Vietnamese asylum seekers.
 |
| Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has died at the age of 84. Source: News Corp Australia |
FORMER Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has died at the age of 84.
“It is with deep sadness that we inform you that after a brief illness John Malcolm Fraser died peacefully in the early hours of the morning of 20 March 2015,” Mr Fraser’s office said in a statement this morning.
“We appreciate that this will be a shock to all who knew and loved him, but ask that the family be left in peace at this difficult time.”
He is survived by his wife Tamie and four children.
 |
| Mr Fraser was Prime Minister from 1975 to 1983. Source: News Corp Australia |
Mr Fraser was the Prime Minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983. He came to power in controversial circumstances following the Governor-General’s dismissal of Gough Whitlam, proceeding to win the 1975 election in a landslide.
Speaking of Mr Whitlam’s death last October, Mr Fraser said that although the two would forever be linked by their differences, they never bore any personal animosity towards each other.
“Gough Whitlam wasn’t the sort of person who bore grudges,” he said. “He was a Prime Minister who did many different things and many of his ideas were good.”
 |
| Mr Fraser alongside his successor as Prime Minister, Bob Hawke. Source: News Corp Australia |
Mr Fraser became an MP in 1955, at the age of 25. Before becoming the party’s leader, he served as Army Minister, Defence Minister and Education and Science Minister.
As Prime Minister, Mr Fraser oversaw the formation of the Australian Federal Police force, and the creation of our first Freedom of Information Act. He supported the abolition of apartheid in South Africa, the establishment of an independent Zimbabwe, and the rise of multiculturalism in Australia.
His government rejuvenated the nation’s immigration program, accepting hundreds of thousands of migrants during its eight years in power, including more than 50,000 Vietnamese asylum seekers.
 |
| Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. A man of many talents. Source: News Corp Australia |
Mr Fraser also placed an emphasis on responsible fiscal policy. His government reduced spending and cut the size of the public service. At the same time, Mr Fraser resisted a push towards the “economic rationalism” advocated by many of his colleagues, which would have steered Australia down a similar road to the United Kingdom under Margaret Thatcher and the United States under Ronald Reagan.
After leaving office, he championed social justice causes and established the Australian arm of the CARE network, a humanitarian organisation, serving as president of CARE International from 1990 to 1995.
He also became a fearless critic of both Liberal and Labor governments. Mr Fraser quit the Liberal Party in 2010, saying it was “no longer a liberal party but a conservative party”, and just last month he criticised current Prime Minister Tony Abbott over the government’s response to the Human Rights Commission report.
Referring to the Forgotten Children report, Mr Fraser said Mr Abbott could have handled the issue very differently.
“If the government had wanted to handle the matter sensibly, they would have said they recognise there have been abuses,” he told ABC Radio.
 |
| Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Source: News Corp Australia |
Tributes are pouring in from both sides of the political divide.
“It’s a sad day for all Australians,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.
“I made it my business to renew my contact with (Mr Fraser) on becoming party leader.
“I had quite a number of long talks with him since then ... I often disagreed with his positions, but I always appreciated his insights and the wisdom born of long experience.
“He was rightly proud of his government.”
 |
| Malcolm Fraser alongside our other former prime ministers. Source: Getty Images |
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was also full of praise for Mr Fraser’s legacy, saying he’d given six decades of tireless devotion to the nation and shown international leadership of great integrity.
“He maintained the Whitlam government’s commitment to the cause of reconciliation and recognising the land rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Mr Shorten said.
“In the long third act of his public life, Malcolm Fraser won many new admirers as a powerful voice for human rights and reconciliation.”
 |
| Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and his wife Tammie. Source: News Limited |
“I knew him well. I visited him on a number of occasions and he always gave wise council,” said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
“He didn’t always agree with the Liberal government of the day but he always had Australia’s best interests at heart.”
Treasurer Joe Hockey said the deaths of Mr Fraser and Gough Whitlam, so close together, will mark “the end of an era”.
“He was a man of robust principles, never afraid to stand up for what he thought was right. He provided stability and reassurance at a time when Australia had gone through incredible upheaval,” Mr Hockey said.
 |
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Source: News Corp Australia
|
“Malcolm Fraser in and beyond politics was a leader in the fight for racial equality. His brave stance against the evil of the South Africa’s apartheid helped changed the world for the better,” former Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a statement.
“Malcolm will always be remembered kindly for his commitment to multiculturalism and his specific actions to resettle Vietnamese boat people in Australia. Many will also recall with admiration his compassionate work internationally through his leadership post-politics of CARE Australia and then CARE International and its citizens.”
 |
Mr Fraser with then-Treasurer John Howard. Source: News Corp Australia
|
Another former Prime Minister, John Howard, served as Treasurer in Mr Fraser’s government.
“Anybody who achieves what Malcolm Fraser achieved in his life deserves respect. A quite extraordinary Australian,” Mr Howard said at a press conference.
“He achieved the significant feat of winning three elections. He dominated the political scene on the centre-right time of politics.
“He showed extraordinary strength in holding the Coalition together.
“He projected a clear image of Australian nationalism on the international stage. People knew where he stood on issues.”
Others have expressed their sorrow at Mr Fraser's passing on social media.
***
Sources:
The Vietnamese refugee with so much to thank former prime minister Malcolm Fraser for (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Labels:
