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Sydney. Australia’s difficulties in confronting racial tensions and addressing the plight of the Aboriginal population have been thrown into the spotlight, just as the nation celebrated a holiday supposed to mark its achievements.

In a series of speeches and incidents surrounding Australia Day on Jan. 26, the nation was reminded that its struggles to address racism, intolerance and the plight of its indigenous people appear to be far from complete.

The incident that put Australia’s struggles in sharp focus was the extrication by security officials of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard — who lost a shoe in the process — and opposition leader Tony Abbott from a restaurant surrounded by a group of angry Aboriginal activists that day.

Separate addresses made before and after the angry scenes also highlighted the problems the country is facing.

Gillard’s rather undignified getaway dominated media headlines and political debate, with Australians not used to seeing their leaders being bundled off to safety in such a manner.

Nor are they used to seeing the national flag burned on the steps of Parliament.

The incident led to the sacking of one of the Prime Minister’s staff and prompted calls for a police inquiry.

The rescue also sparked renewed debate about the state of indigenous Australians and the best way to redress high rates of poverty and disadvantage.

It came as a government-appointed committee proposed a referendum to change the Constitution and recognize the place of indigenous Australians.

Australia Day is called “Invasion Day” by many Aborigines and is remembered as the day white settlers arrived in 1788 and disrupted their way of life.

Relations between the Aboriginal community and Canberra’s politicians have often been strained, with successive governments failing to overcome high rates of indigenous crime, poverty and poor health.

Gillard’s evacuation took place during a protest by Aboriginal activists outside a makeshift tent embassy, which has stood outside Parliament in Canberra for 40 years.

Just days earlier, the problem of racism was raised by prominent neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, who used a public address marking Australia Day to warn his country that racism and intolerance remain “very much alive.”

Teo, whose parents were Chinese Singaporean immigrants, called for an acknowledgment that Australia remains beset by “hidden and overt racism.”

“It still disturbs me when I hear some of our politicians reassuring overseas governments that it doesn’t exist at all,” he said.

“It is incorrect and naive to say that there is no anti-Arab or no anti-Indian sentiment. Just ask someone of Middle Eastern or Indian appearance.”

Teo, who had worked in the United States for 10 years, said he believed the situation in Australia had improved but that racism remained commonplace.

“My daughter was just saying to me the other day, very sadly, she doesn’t like Australia Day because she has in the past dressed up, got into the spirit of things, put a sticker on her face, worn the green and gold and been told by drunk Australians to go home because she looks Chinese,” he said. “That’s so sad, because you can’t get more Australian than my daughter.”

The speech received widespread coverage and the views of Teo, whose medical achievements have been recognized with an Order of Australia, received widespread support.

An online poll by The Herald Sun newspaper found 84 per cent of people agreed with Teo that racism was alive.

The speech also resonated with many on the Twittersphere.

Teo also called for Australia, which has been gripped by a fiery debate over the treatment of boat people, to be more tolerant towards refugees. “I want all Australians to see how immigrants have contributed to our nation and to appreciate that a rich and prosperous country such as ours has a moral and global responsibility to share our resources.”

Several days later, prominent Aboriginal leader Patrick Dodson, the so-called “father of reconciliation,” also gave an address.

Unlike Teo, he discussed the fate of Australia’s indigenous people rather than the country’s approach to racism and refugees. But he pointed out that the face Australia presents on the international stage is often different from that it presents to its indigenous people.

“I struggle with this hypocrisy, particularly when they (Australians) seem happy to intervene in the affairs of other countries but become very defensive when criticized for their treatment of the first peoples of this land.”

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.