Sunday April 29, 2007

Envoy feeds love for languages

BY PAUL GABRIEL

Young, elegant and confident, Penny Williams is set to raise Australia’s profile as High Commissioner to Malaysia with more than just her charm.

Williams wants to devote time to talking and listening to Malaysians from all over the country. — By SIA HONG KIAU

CUT from new cloth, Penny Williams contrasts sharply with her predecessors here. And it has got to do with more than a good dress sense. She's younger, a woman, speaks multiple languages and advocates an open-door policy with her staff.

Williams, Australia’s first woman High Commissioner to Malaysia, is among her country’s new breed of diplomats who reflect the highly urbanised island-continent’s young, competitive society.

The 43-year-old envoy has started off her new posting by informing her staff of her open-door policy. Addressing staffers on her first day of work on March 29, she apparently said: “Come up and see me anytime.”

According to a local member of the Australian mission, “She made us all feel important.”

A decade younger than former High Commissioner James Wise, who has swapped positions with her at Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra, Williams exudes optimism.

She is proud of her ability to speak Bahasa Indonesia, nurtured while spending a year as an exchange student at a Jakarta Christian mission school, and later as a student majoring in South-East Asian studies at the Australian National University.

“I lived with an Indonesian family in Jakarta and it was an incredible experience. There are words that I know in Indonesian that I don’t even know in English!’’ she says.

“Now I am trying to turn my Indonesian into Malay (laughter). I have been attending classes, and picking up Malay newspapers and magazines.

“I want to connect better with Malaysians to be able to perform at my best here,’’ adds Williams in her maiden interview here.

The Tasmanian-born envoy, who presented her credentials to the Yang di- Pertuan Agong last week, also speaks Arabic and Spanish.

Williams has been caught in a new wave among Australians, long considered mono-linguists, to acquire at least a second language. For the envoy, multiculturalism has been the way forward to enrich her life, and her ability to handle several languages portrays the generational change Down Under.

“Australians are expected to know a second language, and there has been a push for Asian languages. Australians now want to think of themselves as being citizens of the world … they’d like to work in Malaysia, London and China.

“My younger sister works for Sky TV in Beijing and she speaks Mandarin,’’ she reveals, backing her point.

Williams, who joined DFAT in 1988, attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 1990; completed stints as First Secretary in Damascus (1992-94); and was Counsellor in Santiago (1997-2000).

In Canberra, Williams has held a range of positions including Director, Staffing Operations Section (2001-02); Assistant Secretary, Staffing Branch (2003-04); First Assistant Secretary, Diplomatic Security Information Management and Services Division (2004-05); and most recently as First Assistant Secretary, Corporate Management Division.

Williams is already to beginning to read Malaysians well as she adapts to her new second home.

“People are surprised when I pick up a Malay magazine at a newsstand. I had to reassure the shop assistant the other day,’’ she says with a laugh.

The envoy is enjoying the diversity here – especially on her plate. “I love the various types of kuih I get here, so I do not really miss the kuih lapis at the kaki-lima (five-foot way) in Jakarta!

“The other night my husband and I enjoyed ikan bilis with kacang goreng. He liked it so much he drove out to get another pack,” says the mother of four children, aged four, 10, 14 and 17. Her husband, Hamish McCormick, is the deputy CEO of the Australian Trade Commission who was at one time lead negotiator for Australia in Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with Malaysia.

Except for the eldest, a daughter who is finishing school back home, the rest have moved to Malaysia with Williams.

“The children haven’t seen so much rain before. It is so dry in Australia that my four-year-old girl hardly knows what rain is,’’ Williams says of the family’s “splashing” time away from Australia’s prolonged drought.

On her upcoming engagements, Williams is particularly excited about an event scheduled in Melbourne on Thursday that will further boost the bilateral political climate.

The exhibition Nyonya Kebaya: Women’s Costume from Malaysia will open at the Immigration Museum located at the heart of the city.

Williams says the event, jointly organised by Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia (Penyayang) and the museum, is to provide an understanding to visitors of the kebaya’s cultural context, reveal the artistry in the making of the garment and show its evolution over the past two centuries.

It will be a touching moment for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who will jointly open the exhibition with Janette Howard, wife of his Australian counterpart John Howard.

Sixty-seven of the 70 kebayas to be displayed belonged to Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, Abdullah’s late wife.

“The kebayas to be displayed are indeed very lovely. This is a great opportunity for Australians to learn more about the culture of Malaysia,’’ says Williams.

The envoy will be kept on her toes throughout the year with events to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and Malaysia.

One of the highlights will be a pictorial exhibition at the Petronas Gallery in December, on events which have shaped relations between both countries.

Besides devoting time talking and listening to Malaysians, Williams wants to move around to get a quick feel of the country.

“I must prove that Australians are not just KL-centric,’’ she concludes with a smile.

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