Kiwis and Hornbills go back a long way

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Dr John Subritzky, New Zealand High Commissioner to Malaysia.

DR John Subritzky has made Sarawak – Land of Hornbills — his first port of call after becoming New Zealand (NZ) High Commissioner to Malaysia at the end of last year.

Energectic, humorous and candid, the freshly minted envoy from the Land of the Long White Clouds made an introductory call to The Borneo Post recently where he spoke about serious international issues such as the global IS threat, on the one hand, and the strengthening of ties between his country, Malaysia and Asean on the other.

The 46-year-old Kiwi from Auckland who bears some resemblance to Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid, especially when he smiles, joined the Foreign Ministry in 1997.

His first overseas posting was to Jakarta where he served between 2000 and 2004 before being transferred back to Wellington for a three-year stint in the Foreign Ministry.

The second posting was to New Delhi, India, where he was the Deputy High Commissioner until 2011. After that, it was another three years back in Wellington before becoming the High Commissioner to Malaysia.

It is an honour that Dr Subritzky, in that capaicty, has chosen Kuching as the first destination to visit.

thesundaypost welcomed the opportunity to receive such a friendly and unpretentious Kiwi who has expressed keen interest in learning more about Sarawak and the local cultures.

 

Q: Why have you made Kuching the first destination to visit since your appointment as NZ High Commissioner to Malaysia? 

A: I chose Kuching for a couple of reasons. First, there is actually quite a long standing relationship between NZ and Sarawak, particularly in the area of education. Quite a large number of students have come to study in NZ.

This goes back many decades and now, there are even the older and younger generations of NZ university alumni in Sarawak. So, I think there is a little “friends of NZ” community here.

The second reason is my personal interest in Sarawak. I do have some discretion on this matter. As I said, I have always been keen to visit Sarawak.

This current visit also gives me the chance to introduce myself to a few prominent leaders from the state government —-as a matter of courtesy.

My appointment is for four years. I am sure I will be back with my family, and Sarawak will be part of the wonderful experience for us in the next three or four years, particularly my daughter who is five and has started school for the first time in Malaysia.

From five to nine years old – that’s crucial for a child’s development. She will be exposed to another world and another culture which I think will be invaluable for her when she does eventually go back to NZ.

I am sure she will have lots of stories, including the jungles of Borneo and the wonderful foreign beaches, to tell her friends back home. So I am very excited.

 

Q: Why is that the English spoken in NZ is so different from that spoken in the UK?

A: I had lived for a while in the UK and for sometime, I did have the need for translation service before I could speak the “UK” English.

The complaint was — You Kiwis are crunching your vowels. We want to hear the vowels.

But I think having different accents is quite common in the English language. For example, in the UK and the US, how many accents do you have?

Manchester and Liverpool are cities not actually that far apart but the people there speak with different accents.

NZ tends not to have a regional accent, not at the same level as the UK or the US. And we sort of feel like we don’t really have any accent until we travel overseas.

You live in England, then you get used to talking like the Brits. Then you meet another Kiwi and you think — My goodness, do I sound like that?

 

Q: What is NZ’s perception of Malaysia? 

A: That’s a difficult one to answer because the relationship between NZ and Malaysia is such a mature one.

The relationship is not solely at the government level. There’s a strong people-to-people relationship as well. Since I have been in Malaysia, it has been interesting in Kuala Lumpur (KL). I have only been here since the end of last year. I am learning. It’s hard for me to answer the question because I am still very new.

Since the time I have been here, I have already hosted four functions in KL for alumni of various NZ universities. The most recent one was a wonderful event where the 100 people who attended were all Malaysians who had studied in our universities.

And there was such a great diversity in both their ages and universities. The older ones go as far back as the Colombo Plan. A couple of them are Tan Sris while the younger ones may have just graduated the previous year.

There is a sense of the good old days in the room. Some of those present, particularly the older ones, were saying the best time of their lives was when they studied in NZ.

NZ and Malaysia are getting along really well, especially in the area of education.

Even between government and government, there has been much collaboration. A couple of years ago, there was a Malaysian military medical unit serving alongside NZ troops in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.

Another important element in the government-to-government relationship now is that we (NZ and Malaysia) are serving together in the UN Security Council.

 

Q: Do you see any difference between East and West Malaysia?

A: One thing that offers some indication of the difference is that when I arrived in Kuching, I had to produce my passport to have it stamped. This obviously does not happen in most countries. It says something that Sarawak is different.

I understand that is because of history. There were certain arrangements made or understandings reached when the Federation of Malaysia was formed.

I should say I find it more interesting than shocking. I did not expect it. But now that I looked back, it made sense. I can understand because it is part of the agreement reached right from the start.

 

Q: We have quite a long bilateral ties, especially in the area of education. Besides that, what areas are we exploring to further develop our relationship?

A: The great thing about the relationship between NZ and Malaysia is that it is multi-faceted. There are more than 1,500 Malaysian students studying in NZ every year. They are one of the largest country groups that come to study in our schools, universities and polytechnics.

That’s very important because it gives a wider context and balance to the overall relationship between NZ and Malaysia.

What I really like about the ‘education relationship’ is that it goes to the heart of the people. This has set apart the relationship between Malaysia and NZ from others in the world. Now in the 21st Century, relationships between countries are more than relationships between governments.

The government-to-government relationships are important but far more than that, there are business-to-business and people-to-peope relationships built through education.

The trade and economic aspects are also important. Malaysia is one of our top 10 trading partners. There has been a lot of bilateral trade between us. There is a free trade agreement between NZ and Malaysia as well as NZ and Asean.

 

Q: Has trade between Malaysia and NZ been increasing over the years?

A: Yes. Free trade was implemented two years ago. Though relatively new, it has been increasing since then. Here, we are talking about bilateral trading relationship between NZ and Malaysia.

There is also a wider context of the relationship between NZ and Asean. Malaysia chairs Asean this year. We expect by the end of the year, we will be declaring as being part of the Asean community. And it is a special year for NZ’s relationship with Asean because it is the 40th anniversary of NZ’s relationship with the regional grouping.

We are seeking to commemorate this relationship  in an appropriate manner. Asean is a trading block.

NZ is Asean’s fourth largest trading partner and NZ-Asean trade over the last five years has grown more steadily than between NZ and most of its other trading partners.

And within Asean, Malaysia is NZ’s second largest trading partner, just behind Singapore.

 

Q: What are the trading products? 

A: The biggest NZ export items to Malaysia (about 50 per cent which is not unusual) are dairy products.

It is obviously an area of strength for NZ. Being known to be clean and green, we have very stringent food safety regulations and regimes.

Dairy products are our major exports to the world, including Malaysia. There are also exports of horticulture products, especially Kiwi fruits.

Malaysian consumers like Kiwi fruits but also quality meat products, particularly lamb — and salmon as well as some forestry products. And in terms of goods from Malaysia, I think NZ imports a lot of petroleum products and manufactured goods.

 

Q: NZ has been seen to be quite aggressive in recent years in reaching out to other parts of the world compared to previous decades. Why is that so? 

A: Fifty years ago, a large portion of our agricultural products had been exported to the UK. We started to look at our trading profile and relationship as the UK was preparing to enter the European community and subsequently the European Union.

So in a way, we have to diversify to look at other markets. But it is also commonsense that the pattern of global trade has changed a lot over last 30 years.

The most obvious manifestation is China – apart from Asean and the development of countries such as Malaysia.

So it is naturally there is changing trading pattern.

I am sure Malaysia’s trading pattern has changed as well over the past 30 to 40 years.

Some 30 years ago, the bilateral trade between Malaysia and China would not be anywhere near it is today.

Just like bilateral trade between NZ and China, it was nothing like this 30 years ago.

Things never stay still. Time does not stay still.

 

Q: How do you see IS insofar as NZ is concerned? Has there been co-operation between NZ and Malaysia in terms of intelligence sharing to combat IS? 

A: For all countries, including NZ and Malaysia, we have benefitted from globalisation in terms of being small communities. We are able to trade, invest, travel and visit each other. But unfortunately, like the Internet that has brought us so many opportunities, globalisation also makes transmission of crime easier.

We just have to deal with the negative aspects of it and NZ is taking IS very seriously.We are very concerned about IS.

We have had, by global standards, a modest number of New Zealanders who, for one reason or another, found their way to that part of the world.

What I am saying is that even NZ is not spared, notwithstanding the distance. Yes, we are implicated as well. And our friends in Australia have had some incidents.

Australia is not far away and there is pretty much freedom of travel between us. So even NZ — with our distance from most parts of the world — is not spared. Between NZ and Malaysia, we will obviously talk and discuss things with each other but I am not going into security issues here.

 

Q: How does NZ see itself — as part of Asian bigger block or leaning more towards the western world vis-a-vis Europe and America?

A: We are commemorating or celebrating the 40th anniversary of our relationship with Asean because we were first connected with Asean 40 years ago.

We have also been engaging very closely with Southeast Asia for a long time. In the chancery of NZ High Commission, we have the roll of honour in the public area where there is a list of names of New Zealanders who died during the Emergency and Confrontation.

NZ had supported Malaya during these conflicts. There has been a long standing relationship between NZ and Malaysia, and NZ and Southeast Asia. I think the relationship has grown stronger over the years.

For NZ, it is not a matter of choosing between the two. That is simply not the way we see it. We celebrate the fact that we are part of the Asia-Pacific region.

We are part of the East Asia Summit, and we do see ourselves definitely as part of the region. We also celebrate our historic and present connections with countries you associate as part of the West, and obviously, we have close relations with Australia, the UK, the US and a number of western countries.

Part of our heritage is European, particularly British and a very important part of it is our indigenous Maorist culture.

There is also an increasing influence of Asian communities as our relationships with the region continue to grow.