now tell me that again...australia is the racist o

To all you Asian apologists and Aussie knockers....pull your head outta yer azz and see the world as it is.

You didnt believe me when I kept saying that Mahatir had said something very much the same

"Prove it", were the shouts

"Lies - you're the racist Yak" were the rejoinders

We are as pure as the driven snow compared to most of these jerks!

Howard defends national identity
By Malcolm Farr
October 21, 2003

PRIME Minister John Howard yesterday gave a bristling defence of Australia's national identity after Singapore said we would not be accepted in the region until our population was more than 50 per cent Asian.

Mr Howard said Australia would never define its place in the world by being anything other than an independent nation.

"We don't seek some kind of rating from anybody as far as our position in the region is concerned," he said.

He said immigration policy would not be changed to favour Asians, calling the idea absurd.

He was responding to Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's remarks on Sunday to business leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Bangkok.

Mr Goh spoke of the views of Asian "purists", almost certainly referring to outspoken Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has steadfastly opposed Australian involvement in the region.

Mr Goh said his own view was that Australians could not be regarded as "indigenous Asians".

"Over time, when there's more Asians going to Australia and the population tips 50 per cent non-whites, and the rest white, they are immediately regarded as Asian," he said.

The comments have been seen as further evidence that members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations are determined to bar Australia from a free trade grouping in the region and from the association itself.

This was galling to Mr Howard, who on Sunday night sealed negotiations for a free-trade pact with Thailand, ASEAN's second biggest economy.

The row over Australia's identity came as President George W. Bush intensified his drive to put the war on terror at the heart of the APEC meeting.

His argument that terrorism poses "a direct and profound" challenge to freeing trade and increasing prosperity is already at the heart of the declaration to be unveiled when the summit winds up late today.

The draft declaration calls for increased security co-ordination, tighter controls at ports and a campaign to stop militants moving money around the world.

But some Asian leaders were clearly upset.