On 9th June 2018 more than 150 members and friends celebrated Hakka Association WA’s 9th Anniversary at Fortune Five Chinese Restaurant 福臨門海鲜酒家 in Northbridge. It was a night of feast, lucky draws and karaoke. Members and guests were treated to Hakka mountain songs 客家山歌, and a good selection of songs in both Chinese and English.
It was a time of jokes and laughter, kinship, getting to know you, an opportunity to reflect recent events. Inevitably it was also an occasion to discuss political and social events in Malaysia, North Korea, China, and Australia. There was laughter, toasts (yum sing), as we listened to pundits and “instant experts”.
According to official records published by Ann Atkinson, titled Asian Immigrants to Western Australia 1829 to 1901, as early as May 1886 two Hakkas arrived in WA. LI A JI (李亞二), born 1858 in Sui Khoe, in today’s Hui Zhou (惠州), was recruited in Singapore to work as a general labourer under contract to E. Robinson, Fremantle and East Kimberleys, for three years at S$8 per month; HO NGIAN SHUN, born 1863 in Tai Phu (大埔), was recruited in Singapore to work as a general labourer under contract to J&W Bateman, Fremantle and the Kimberleys, for three years for S$8 per month.
Hakka arrivals came to a halt during the White Australian Policy era. After the end of the Policy they came in substantial numbers, mainly from South East Asia. 123 years after the arrival of the first Hakkas in 1886, the Hakka Association of WA was incorporated with veteran leader Dato’ T.K. Yong as the founder president. Over the years it provided stable leadership and a platform to galvanise the collective intelligence and aspirations of the Hakka diaspora in our state of Western Australia.
According to Wikipedia there are about 80 million Hakkas worldwide. Furthermore the Hakka language is ranked as the 39th most commonly spoken language world-wide (36.3 million native speakers), higher than official languages such as Burmese (43rd with 33.5 million speakers) and Dutch (52nd with 24.8 speakers). There are more Hakka speakers in the world than the population of countries such as Australia or Malaysia.
While most of the Hakkas are in China, there are about 4.54 million Hakkas overseas. They account for about 9 – 10% of overseas Chinese. Based on this parameters, there would be around 100,000 Hakkas in Australia, based on one million ethnic Chinese, and about 12,000 to 14,000 in WA.
The Hakka Association of WA, despite its recent history, is undoubtedly one of the most visible, active and well run ethnic Chinese associations. Over the years it emerged as a well-respected ethnic Chinese association. In addition to events such as celebrating Chinese New Year, mothers’ day and moon cake festival, various programmes activities were held, at local, National and International levels for members and friends.
Since July 2016, Mandarin Beats, a radio program proudly sponsored by the Hakka Association of Western Australia in conjunction with Aus World Travel 澳華旅遊broadcasted weekly on Wednesdays from 4-5 pm through 95.3 FM. It is a primarily Mandarin-speaking program with the occasional English, Hakka and Cantonese language, reflecting the multiculturalism of Australia. It is an excellent example of grass roots media. Mandarin Beats provides news, information, cultural content and entertainment to defined communities. This is the only station in West Australia where one gets to learn Hakka. Picture above was taken when our president and secretary had a session with its station host Hui Ling 慧菱. More information about their programs can be found on their website.
In addition to Mandarin Beats, another initiative is the Hakka WA Business Networking. The first event was a presentation on organisational culture by Dr Tow Fah Chin, our member and charted business consultant specialising on enhancing business performance and turnover. Business Networking is another salient feature of our association, capacity building and construction of social infrastructure.
To commemorate the 150th birthday of Dr Sun Yat Sen 孙中山, one of the most prominent Hakka personalities, a public forum was held in November 2016 at the Perth library auditorium. It was organised by Hakka Association of Western Australia, supported by the Federation of Overseas Chinese Associations, and Hong Kong Business Association Western Australia. Two of our members, Drs Tow Fah Chin and Yit Seng Yow, presented their well-researched perspectives on father of the Chinese nation (国父), Dr Sun Yat-Sen. With this success the Hakka Association WA emerged as the second ethnic Association in WA to conduct academic forums. Dr Tow Fah Chin’s presentation can be seen on YouTube.
Hakka WA participated in the inauguration of the Oceania Hakka Federation in April this year in Brisbane. Oceania refers to our region that included not only Australia and New Zealand, but also island nations such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, etc. We were represented by Francis Yapp who was appointed into the Supervisory Committee of Oceania Hakka Federation.
The Association hosted a 2 days cooking demonstration, to promote fine Hakka cuisine客家美食文化, as part of dragon boat festival this June. Organised by the Taiwan Hakka Affairs Council 客家委员会through the Hungkang University Education Promotion Centre 弘光科技大學推廣教育中心, the 2 days culinary demonstration and practical session proved to be popular among members, as seen from the picture above.
History was created with Hakka delegates from all corners of the world participated in the Inaugural Global Hakka Chinese New Year Conference首届全球客家春节团拜座谈会held in January 2017 in Shenzhen, China. Hakka Association of Western Australia was represented by Alan Yit and Mrs. Lily Kong-Yit (Deputy President).
We also participated in the 29th World Hakka Conference, held in Hong Kong from 13 to 15 October 2017, on the 20th Anniversary of return to motherland. From a historical perspective Hong Kong initiated the first Hakka conference in 1971. Since then the events had been held in various places in Asia, America and Africa.
Hakka WA co-hosted a performance by a singing group from Taiwan, singing in Hakka. The 2018 Australia Hakka Concert Tour 2018 澳洲客家文化活动交流珀斯巡回was held in Perth on Sunday 4 March 2018 in Perth Modern School Auditorium. As a gesture of kinship, good will and solidarity, the Association forego all proceeds from ticket sales; instead we urged the audience to donate to the quake disaster (6.4-magnitude) relief fund for Hualien, Taiwan. Picture above features one of the performances at the concert.
Members of our association comes from a wide spectrum of background, age group and country of origin. In spite of the diversity, a unique feature of the Hakka Association is adherence to its core values of “Australia first”. We are Chinese Australians, not Australian Chinese; Hakka Australians, rather than Australian Hakkas. It is remarkable that the leadership and their advisers do not use the association to promote their own social standing locally or internationally.
We do not base our understanding of the world through vernacular press or social media. Under the steady leadership of President Keith Yong and his Executive Committee Members, the Association is proud of its independence, free from foreign influence or interference.
Article by Y.S. YOW
