More nonsense from Radio Australia's Bruce Hill about the recent Chinese migrants to the Pacific

On 18 April 2011 Bruce Hill claimed on the "Pacific Beat" program that these latter day migrants from China do not learn the indigenous culture or the language of the countries in which they settle. And that could have contributed to the perpetration of atrocities against them. Mr. Hill got a professor from Malaysia and someone from Bougainville to back those views. He failed however to get someone with an opposing viewpoint. Mr. Hill should tell us the kind of cultures that he meant, since some of these are criminal offenses. As to the language, the Chinese migrants learned and used the Pacific languages in order to reach their customers. Obviously Mr. Hill has got that one wrong. On 5 May 2006 Bruce Hill was in Tonga and I had called him about a spate of robberies against Chinese businesses. Mr. Hill quoted a big shot from the Tonga Media Council as saying that the police are on top of the situation and then discontinued the conversation. Six months later many Asian businesses in Nuku'alofa were looted and destroyed. Mr. Hill descended once more on the kingdom of Tonga and this time interviewed a Dr. Tui Uata. According top Dr. Uata the local Chinese community did not practise certain elements of the Tongan culture and the destruction of their businesses was due in part to what he called the "ripple effect." Mr. Hill did not contest this. But this is problematic since the prominent Chinatown Hotel, the Lily's restaurant, and several other Chinese businesses stood apart from other buildings but were looted and torched. And the Chinese retail stores in the central business district were among the first, if not the first, to be looted. The ripple effect is therefore fiction. Radio Australia should urgently enroll Bruce Hill in a refresher course on responsible journalism.