Dec

Settlement Support for newcomers, refugees and expats

A friend of mine have recently relocated back to China, after living here in New Zealand for about 10 years. Everyday, I get to hear how much pain she is in and how depressed she is. She relocated because her parents want to spend more time with her. And she wanted to do so. She just cannot adapt to the long working hours, poor pay, working culture and the temperature of China.

One of my past life is working as the Settlement Support Coordinator for the Auckland Regional Migrant Services, who is turning 10 on 11th December 2012. ARMS have settled over thousands of newcomers, the technical and proper word for new migrants who have lived in New Zealand for less than 3 years, and new refugees who have lived in New Zealand for less than 5. Only in the last couple of years, Immigration/Department of Labour have also added Expat New Zealanders, due to the economic downturn and the number of Kiwis coming back to New Zealand.

Settlement Support New Zealand

It is not easy job to settle for Kiwis who have been away for many years. ARMS didn’t have a programme for expats. The employment programme is aimed to help new migrants and refugees on how to find jobs in New Zealand. Expats don’t really need that. Nor they can get the mentorship they needed to resettle in New Zealand. Whilst some people say that Kiwis discriminate migrants, some of them also discriminated Kiwis and turned them down because “they have no New Zealand experiences”.

That always make me question – if Kiwi employers are worried about cultural conflicts, why were they worried that Kiwi expats cannot fit into the company’s culture? Or was it just a blanket policy to ban people who have no Kiwi experiences? And how do they ever get Kiwi experiences? It has always been a Catch-22 situation.

I’ve told my friend in China to learn how to settle in the ‘new’ country. She has family and friends there and if she could settle in New Zealand without an English language skills when she first arrived, I am sure she can resettle back in China. A tough time, I know. I had cultural shock when I first started work at ARMS. However I have faith that she can get past it and settle well.

I hope all newcomers, and expats, can enjoy a fantastic Kiwi Christmas this year and get to relax and enjoy some sun. Much needed summer holidays!

167 days ago Short URL Comments

Community Events and Services/Politics

Sep

Fighting racism with hate is not the right weapon…

Attended the MYNZ Conference 2012: RESPECT N’ REPRESENT! today, organised by Shakti Youth Amabassdors Network. I was delighted to see a conference for young people created by young people. It is also fantastic to see young people learn about respecting and representing for themselves, for who they are and who they believe in. The performances by the different schools were amazing. When everyone is buzzing over the Ching Chong Song at New Zealand Got Talent – eat your heart out – these boys and girls are way better.

NZ Got Talent – Ching Chong Song

As impressed as I am about the conference, I was sitting there feeling very uncomfortable when the issues about racism came up. Look, I deal with ethnic communities all the time and racism is a matter that comes up almost all the time as well. Not news to me. I was not surprise that young people have received racist comments, heard racist comments, and some were brave enough to say that they have been racist themselves.
I was uncomfortable with the remarks by the presenters. Surely, I know, the Chinese were subjected to awful racism because they were the only group that have to pay a poll tax. Yes the Pacific community had the dawn raid. Yes, we have migrants who have to be angelised their names to get a job. Yes, Maori land were confiscated by the crown. Yes, there is still the foreshore and seabed debate. You get my point – I am definitely aware of the racism “colour people” face. Am I angry, hell yeah! But in NO circumstances, that makes it right for us to fight racism by using racism.

What am I saying? It is NOT OK to call the Pakeha/Caucasian/New Zealand European “white people”. “White People” are equally diverse. The “white people” who took the land, ask for poll tax, initiated the dawn raid, etc etc are not the same “white people” that recently migrated from the UK, South Africa, Eastern Europe… Not all “white people” come from the same region. Not all “white people” are racist.

It is not ok to think that all white people, therefore are privileged. Yes, we know that in general, they make more money, they have a better standard of living, and blondes may have more fun (I’ve been complimented on my blonde hair even though I am not “white!”) . No, it does not mean that therefore they will look down on you just because you are coloured people.

We do need to acknowledged the history and even the current times presents discrimination and racism against people of colour skin. We all do. We all make assumptions of who people are based on their looks, not just their skin colour. However, by just saying “the white people did this” and “the white people did that”, is not going to help promote positive race relationships. Instead, it promotes victimization by making all “coloured people” victims.

I have to confess that perhaps my own perceptions on the presentation had excluded me from listening clearly and enjoy the presentation in a different way, but there is no way, I believe, that we should fight racism with racism. We should instead promote positive race relations instead.

Peace!

242 days ago Short URL 3 Comments

Politics/Youth

conference/discrimination/presentation/race/racism/youth

Mar

Ethnicity, Employment, Opportunities

Yesterday, Wednesday 28 March 2012, the Future Dragonz, a group organised a panel discussion at the University of Auckland called “White or Wong? Unlocking the bamboo door”. It is a panel discussion about whether ethnicity plays a role in employment – that is, does ethnicity makes it harder to get a job in New Zealand?

Future Dragonz has successfully launched the Panel Discussion with a lot of media interests, including the Sunday Star Times and Close Up on TV1. This discussion about ethnicity and employment is an age-old story. It was on Campbell Live two years ago when a migrant job seeker went to Campbell Live to say that a speaker at one of the workshop by the Auckland Regional Migrant Services told them to change their names if they wanted a job in New Zealand.

At the Ethnic Panel meetings, we acknowledged that institutional racism exist in New Zealand and we need to take actions. The Huma Rights Commission raised the same issue with their Annual Review of Race Relations 2011. We know that many employers do not employ people who they think will have a difficulty fitting into their work culture; and many employers, either racist or just naive, would choose not to employ someone with an ethnic background regardless of how long they have lived in New Zealand. They are worried they won’t fit in.

Nonetheless, I have personally dealt with Kiwi expats who have worked overseas for many years and return to new Zealand without a job. Without a job not by choice, but with New Zealand employers telling them that they do not have New Zealand experiences.

Today’s world is harder, harder to find employment due to economic downturn. There are simply less money floating around. My advice to the migrant clients I used to work with is, the employer is paying to do this job, like it or not, they have the power. You wanted a job, and irrespective of your ethnicity, you should promote yourself to them so they will employ you.

While ethnicity plays a role, nothing is more important than your attitude and your abilities to show them why you are the best candidate. If the company is racist, for example, changing your name won’t change anything. At the end of the day, you will be there and they will see you. You can’t hide your ethnic looks from the employers.

We need action plans. We need to let the employers know why you should be employed. By 2020, more than 50% of Aucklanders are non-New Zealand European (and let’s not get into this definition for now). If employers need to meet their needs, that is, have employees to create their wealth, they simplyhave to employ those who aren’t New Zealand Europeans. It’s not their choice. As a matter of fact, they have no choice. There is simply no supply to meet your demand. I think this is quite a simple economic theory?

For us, ethnic people, demonstrate to them why you are good and take away that ethnicity factor. I think our ethnicity are advantages; the abilities to speak different languages and maybe a great understanding of the country of origin, etc. Deep down it is still about your skills, experiences and personalities. I know, personally, I cannot be takeaway owner because I can’t cook. Yes I have the ethnic profile to do it (yeah, all Chinese have a takeaway shop or something), but I don’t have the skills to fulfill the role. Demonstrate to the world why you are amazing, and let your ethnicity and culture adds to your existing amazing qualities.

423 days ago Short URL Comments

Auckland/Community Events and Services/Politics

Auckland/Chinese/discrimination/employment/ethnicity/future dragonz/jobs/racism/racist

Mar

Ethnicity a factor in Crafar Farm Opposition?

Waikato Times published an article and survey on whether ethnicity is a factor in Crafar Farm opposition, or is it simply, foreign investments.

I personally have a little reservation that Kiwis think ethnicity is not a factor in Crafar farm opposition. When James Cameron said he will come and purchase not long after the Crafar farm saga, everyone was supportive, and thinks he is going to generate economic benefits to NZ. He never ever said he will be here to make more movies and employ any New Zealanders. He is simply here to purchase a land for holiday home.

And when this showed up again few days ago, comments online was rude and racist. New Zealanders think this country can live without foreign investments. New Zealand’s debt is over $71.6billion, and borrowing over $300m per week. Our credit rating gone from AA+ to AA. The cost of Canterbury recovery is high. How do you think we can pay the debt off without turning into another Greece?

I had an interesting chat to someone who knows Crafar farm owners and said this debate has made it difficult for them. 1. They needed the money; 2. They don’t need the whole world to know that their farm is in receivership. The offer by iwi group was clearly too low to meet the debt owned.

I do support a New Zealand sale – only if they are able to meet the price. This issue about not selling anything to Chinese foreign investors s is giving New Zealand a very bad name; and also lost billions of dollars that foreign investors were going to invest.

New Zealanders need to be much more honest with them and admit that yes they have prejudices, and they do have issues with foreign investments, particularly with the Chinese. It is not wrong to accept that everyone have assumptions and prejudice of other people. It’s inate and important for survival. Realisations are the first step to move forward.

432 days ago Short URL 1 Comment

Politics

assumptions/Chinese/comments/Crafar/debt/farm/investment/New Zealand/racism

Feb

The Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel – One Year On

The Ethnic peoples' Advisory Panel, Chief Executive Doug McKay, and Mayor Len Brown

1^st March 2012 marks the first anniversary of the establishment of the Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel and the Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel for the Auckland Council. Under the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill, the Panels were established to make sure that the voice of the Ethnic and Pacific communities be heard. With the help of the Office of Ethnic Affairs and Ministry of Pacific Islands Affairs, 12 and 13 people were selected respectively, and appointed by the Mayor. The 25 people do not represents specific ethnic communities, and they are chosen for their skills, knowledge, connections and abilities to offer unbiased strategic and governance.

The Panels are to provide advice to the Council and Mayor on issues related to the ethnic and Pacific communities, from economic development, social development, youth, engagement, and policies. They do not have decision making powers and these positions are not paid. The Panels meet monthly and have hosted additional hui where necessary. Annual reviews take place to advice the Council and the government on how it has operated and provide advice on future developments.

The Panels are delighted to be invited to various ethnic events and in the recent months, the different Chinese New Year events across town and organisations, Indian festivals and the Japan Day. This allowed the Panel to engage with the communities and reassured them with our presence.

2012 marks the 40^th anniversary of the diplomatic relationships between China and New Zealand; and the 50^th anniversary of the diplomatic relationships between Japan and New Zealand. Members of the Ethnic Panel attended the launch of the NZ Inc China Strategy by New Zealand government recently. China is now the second largest trading partner with New Zealand, behind Australia. Trading between primary resources and people are equally important.

The Mayor will be visiting China in April to further strengthen the relationships between cities. Various New Zealand sectors are increasingly aware of the Chinese presence here locally and are exploring how business opportunities could be further developed.

The relationship between different communities in Auckland and overseas will continue to grow. Better understanding between both places are increasingly important for both social and economic development. As the youngest member of the Panel, I am honoured to have this opportunity to partake in this historical milestone for Auckland and New Zealand.

*Disclaimer: the view expressed here is my own personal view and does not represents those of the Panel, the Auckland Council or the government.

Feb

You haven’t caught the Linsanity yet?

Jeremy Lin, whose parents grew up in Taiwan, was front-page news in the Taipei newspapers. But China is highlighting its ties to him also.

You haven’t heard of Jeremy Lin yet? Well you better Google him immediately! Jeremy Shu-How Lin 林書豪 is the first Asian American NBA player of Taiwanese decent and a regular church goer. Harvard University graduate, he is currently playing for New York Knicks.

Jeremy Lin has received a lot of attention not because he is Chinese. In fact, the other famous Chinese NBA player, Yao Ming, who is now retired, haven’t received as much attention as Jeremy Lin did over the last few weeks.

Jeremy helped the Knicks won 6 games in a row (as of 15 February 2012), and have scored over 38 points in one game, against another NBA legend Kobe Bryant. He has consistently scored more than 20 points per game. Creating a Lineffect.

Why Knicks won 6 in a row? Because of Jeremy Lin!

Jeremy Lin created an unexpected effect, you can use a programme online to create “Jeremy Lin Word Generator“. “Linsanity” and “Va-Lin-tines” are the only two that I know but undoubtedly you can create more.

Lin also created all these articles about what you can learn from him. (Note, it’s not ABOUT HIM, but FROM HIM. Guess you can always go to Wikipedia to learn about someone) You have the Forbes writing a story entitled “Just Lin, Baby! 10 Lessons Jeremy Lin Can Teach Us Before We Go To Work Monday Morning”, bloggers putting up “10 things we can learn from Jeremy Lin“, and CBS Sports putting up an article “Lin’s meteoric rise, impossible to explain, a tale of perseverance“.

Yes, suddenly it’s not so geeky to be an Asian American Harvard Grad. Even the American Show, “The Talk” had a discussion about Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s comments on Jeremy Lin. You also have the Fung Brothers who created two funny clips about how Asian American boys are just amazing.

Jeremy is not the cutest Asian American guy, nor the smartest even. Undoubtedly he has a star quality, and his achievements were amazing. Some people called him “God”. His impact was translated to Madison Square Garden’s stock, creating a 52 week high of $32.20.

The impact was more than just his star quality but how this is translated into business opportunities. Chinese worldwide are able to have access to Jeremy Lin’s videos globally and is one of the most searched for terms in Chinese speaking world. He has his own Weibo, Twitter and Facebook account. He is also due to visit Taiwan’s President Ma later this year as fellow alumni of Harvard.

Busisses could use Lin-effect to gain more, more than just the rise of stock. Product endorsements and original Jeremey Lin’s jerseys (yes replicas and other counterfeit jersey are already available in Asia!) are just some of the easy things to start off with.

Unlike Yao Ming, Jeremy Lin has a wider influences because of his identity. Being an Asian American, Americans naturally dawn to him because he is an “American” and share American values (as a person who openly talks about God and his believe). Being one of Taiwanese decent, he is able to reach into Chinese who are anti-Mainland Chinese, or unable to connect with the Mainland Chinese. And for many Mainland Chinese, they could only see him as Chinese and can’t wait to get a hold of him.

If a business is smart and wanted a Pan-Chinese connection globally, this is the chance. Americans complained that they are now owned by Chinese (the Chinese owns much of American’s bond and debt) and even Late Night with David Letterman joked about how all Americans will end up speaking Chinese. With Jeremy Lin, one can increase the Chinese-Americans relationship globally and perhaps used as a platform for further diplomatic advantages. Let the Linpossible begin!

Now only if New Zealand can find someone as cool as Jeremy Lin…

Feb

Rumours and communications – the difference between Chinese and the West

News of assassination of Kim Jong-Un on Twitter

“Chinese Twitter Says Kim Jong-Un Was Assassinated This Morning in Beijing”, says Twitter. According to Gawker.com, someone called Joe Xu posted on Weibo that Kim Jong-Un is assassinated because there are unusual activities at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing.

Gawker also said the rumours “exploded” on Weibo. Wait, I was only there a few minutes before I log onto Weibo and failed to see anything about Kim Jong-Un. I need to go back and do a search.

The trending posts were about the mysterious death of some swans in Wuhan. Did anyone not pick up Kim’s death, so was it hidden or “harmonised” and deleted? I typed in “金正恩” (Kim’s name in Chinese) and found that there were 123,360 search on him, beating the search on Valentine’s Day gifts (21,365). However, there were nothing on Weibo that suggested he is now officially dead.

Trending on Weibo

As The Atlantic rightly pointed out, why didn’t any Western media scattered around the world reported the mass shut down of the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, even though we know the North Koreans are always a little mysterious?

Why did the English media, including (the real one, not @BBCLiveNews) suddenly picked up this Weibo post about Kim Jung-Un? Despite the red tape by the Chinese government, there were some interesting posts before, including comments about the Wenzhou train disaster, and little were reported in the Western media.

Undoubtedly the situation in North Korea is a fascination to the Western world. Western media would not understand how Weibo is use in China. It is to discuss social issues, but more often, about life, horoscope, philosophy, celebrities… Social politics do not rank highly on the radar, because it is often removed due to the possibilities of it causing social unrests.

When one visit Weibo, it is important to remember that if a post will cause social unrests, it will be removed. For news like Kim Jung-Un’s death, which could cost so much uncertainty within the community, why would Weibo allows it to flow?

2012 New York Fashion Week trending

Oh by the way, just because over 123,000 people are searched for him does not make this topic “hot” on Weibo. It is still far from the 289,547 discussion on a 2012 AW New York Fashion Week.

Nov

The Asian Communities and their civil rights

Thanks to the extended invitations from Susan Zhu on behalf of the Chinese New Settlers Services Trust, I had the privilleged to attend and speak at their staff training workshop on Sunday, 13th November.

One of the gem is to listen to Dr Marilyn Waring’s presentation to the group and social policy. Dr Waring is Professor of Public Policy at AUT University, someone who is very knowledgeable about how central and local government works.

Irrespective of whether you share her passion on feminism or her choice at the referrendum, nonetheless Dr Waring has provided some of the most inspirational speakers I have came across.

One of the most important advice she has given to the Trust is how they should be involved with your local representatives before you want to ask them for anything. Very often, and I get the same treatment, is we only get to meet the communities when they want something from you. Whether they want you to help them with a problem, or get you to help connect them with the leaders or senior management.

Often, when someone approached us this way, we immediately have this feeling of “disgust”. Sorry, but the first 6 – 7 seconds of the first impression is very important. If all I get for the first 6 - 7 seconds is that you want something from me and I barely know you, why should I help?

The recommendation she has given to the audience is that – go and get to know them. Invite them to events. Let them familiarised themselves with who you are and what you do. Engage with them and let them be your advocate. So you can make things happen. Not wait for things to happen.

When I spoke on Sunday, I also realised how many of them are not engaged with their civil rights. They hear things from others but never bother to find out more. They were relying on gossips from other places.

Go on, exercise your rights, meet and get to know your local representatives whether they are on local or central government level. Only then you could be able to achieve a more political and influential role should you need something from them!

558 days ago Short URL Comments