A leading Thai activist says foreign students should spend more time learning about Australian culture
SOUTH Australia can play a leading role in educating international students about Australian culture, according to Thai activist and former politician Mechai Viravaidya.
- Mechai Viravaidya’s campaign to combat the scourge of AIDS
- Bamboo schools a key initiative of Thai activist
SOUTH Australia can play a leading role in educating international students about Australian culture, according to Thai activist and former politician Mechai Viravaidya.
Mr Viravaidya, who will speak at tonight’s Australian Institute of Company Directors SA annual dinner, spearheaded Thailand’s response to the AIDS crisis in the 1990s
Earlier, he spent 12 years in Australia, studying at Geelong Grammar and completing a commerce degree at Melbourne University.
“My time in Australia made me feel an Australian and that is what is missing in much of the education for Asians or other people that a come to school and university in Australia,” he said.
“They come to study and then for holidays they go home - I didn’t go home for two years each time.
“I will be meeting the Governor and I would like to suggest that the government of South Australia help to promote this Australianisation of Asian students coming out to study - during the holidays go out on the farm, go to the stations - stay and learn about Australia and see the real Australia.”
Led by Mr Viravaidya, Thailand’s AIDS prevention program was credited with saving an estimated 7.7 million lives, and earned him the nickname “Mr Condom”.
The Population and Community Development Association - a NGO established by Mr Virvaidya’s in the 1970s - continues to concentrate its efforts on reducing poverty in Thailand and providing support to rural communities across the country.
He said the business community should play a greater role in alleviating poverty around the world.
“The approach of helping people out of poverty has been mostly done by government in the past and it’s been done through a welfare approach - it just doesn't work,” he said.
“It doesn’t empower you, it doesn’t give you any skills and it makes you more dependent on the hand-out.
“The better approach is to realise who can help the poor. Don’t go to the government, go to those who know how to make money and that’s the business community.
“The only road out of poverty is through business enterprise - not through charity, not through religion.”
More than 420 directors and other guests are expected to attend tonight’s dinner at the Convention Centre.
Meanwhile, an AICD report released today reveals South Australian directors are among the nation’s most optimistic about the prospects for the national economy and their own companies.
However, according to the AICD’s bi-annual director sentiment index, South Australian directors feel more pessimistic about their own state’s economy than their counterparts in every other mainland state.
“Directors in South Australia rated high energy prices, the taxation system and global economic uncertainty as the three top economic challenges facing Australian business,” AICD chief executive Angus Armour said.