Penny Wong’s brother‘s touching plans for sister’s homecoming to Malaysia

Penny Wong’s brother has shared touching details about what he has planned for his sister’s emotional homecoming trip.

Penny Wong will go from helping Malaysia grapple with Chinese aggression on its doorstep to enjoying recreations of meals once cooked by her grandmother during an emotional homecoming this week.

The Foreign Affairs Minister will arrive in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, beginning a visit with two clear, but very different, objectives: reviving Australia’s diminishing standings in South-East Asia and reuniting with family in her hometown of Kota Kinabalu.

Senator Wong’s younger brother James Wong Kein Peng, who still lives in the sate of Sabah on Borneo Island, says the family is preparing to cook traditional Hakka Chinese recipes their late grandmother Lai Fung Shim used to prepare for them when they were younger.

While they eat dishes like steamed corn chicken and pork belly with yams, a slide show will playing with photos of their childhood.

Penny Wong cooking a barbecue with her younger brother James Wong Kein Peng. Picture: Supplied

“Our grandmother was someone who was quite close to Penny and who also taught Penny some life lessons,” James told The Advertiser.

“We’ll be having a slide show running through some of the slides of the past, with pictures of big Wong family gatherings, of our grandmother, pictures of all the siblings and kids when they were much smaller.

“It will be a very meaningful, close event where we will be catching up and also remembering the past.”

But before her homecoming adventure, Senator Wong will meet with her Malaysian counterpart Dato Sri Saifuddin bin Abdullah, with whom Beijing’s rising aggression in the South China Sea is expected to top discussions. They will also discuss the two countries’ close bonds forged through business, education and tourism.

“Australia wants to strengthen these ties further – we know our future is tied to that of the region we share,” Senator Wong said.

It will be the ninth country Senator Wong has visited since she was sworn in last month, and will be the third South-East Asian nation she has visited, as she works to rebuild Australia’s position in the region.

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong shakes hands with her Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son at the Government Guest House in Hanoi on June 27. Picture: Nhac NGUYEN / AFP

Normally friendly relations between Beijing and Kuala Lumpur have somewhat deteriorated, as China harasses Malaysian vessels in oil and gas fields in the South China Sea. This includes around Malaysian oil giant Petronas’ Kasawari gas field development just off the coast of Borneo.

In Hanoi on Monday, Senator Wong took a veiled swipe at China while launching the Vietnam Australia Centre, which will train Vietnam’s future political leaders at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

“Our two countries share an interest in a region that is peaceful, prosperous, that is stable, in which sovereignty is respected. A region where disputes are settled peacefully in accordance with international law and norms, not by size and power,” Senator Wong said.

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