by Ganesh Sahathevan
In 2016 the Sydney Morning Herald, which is usually supportive of the state's premier Gladys Berejiklian reported:
Enjoying a glass of red wine, Chinese businessman William Chiu announced he would donate $25,000 if the NSW attorney-general Greg Smith sang him three songs. Mr Smith obliged with Elvis and Sinatra.
How did a student Maoist, arrested by the Malaysian government, imprisoned and tortured for his links to Communist insurgents, come to have the NSW Liberal government singing his tune 40 years later?
In 1974, Mr Chiu was known in Australia as Khoo Ee Liam, a cause celebre for left-wing activists who protested in the streets calling for the Malaysian to be freed. Wikileaks documents revealed US State Department cables monitoring the international tensions his case ignited.
When he died in June 2015, he had become the NSW Liberals' key link to Sydney's Chinese community. Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian expressed her sadness at the loss of NSW Parliament's "very close friend".
(Kirsty Needham,Secret past of Liberals' China donor.4 September 2016The charity work William did, including through Eyes on China, simply was outstanding. William was a man of great conviction, great compassion and a man who looked at the bigger picture and appreciated that Australia and China would both be strengthened by deepening relationships on a human level between people in our respective provinces and States. He made a difference to public life. I know that William's health was failing him in the last few years of his life, but he did not let that hold him back. Whether it was organising functions for worthwhile causes or acknowledging the deep and strong bilateral relations we share with China, William was always on the go and always doing things to improve community life in New South Wales while maintaining strong relations and strong values.
I express my disappointment that I was unable to attend his memorial service on Sunday. I appreciate the strong support shown for his contribution to public life in New South Wales. He was a man of great conviction, great passion and great ability. He was a man who appreciated that we always must be vigilant. We cannot assume that things are going well or take friends for granted. He continued to work hard, year in and year out, and he made a difference. All members come to this House wanting to make a difference in whichever area they wish to pursue. I say with great admiration and affection that William Chiu made a difference by building strong relations between New South Wales and China and by allowing us to appreciate the values we share on a cultural level in addition to the significant trade and economic values and relationships we have.
I express my deep condolences on William's passing. We will miss him terribly on a professional and personal level. I thank the Asia-Pacific Friendship Group for formalising our respect for William through this motion in the Parliament. I think it is absolutely appropriate to recognise a man for his contribution. I express my sincere condolences to his family.
SEPTEMBER 4 2016 - 12:14AM
NSW Liberals defy foreign policy on Taiwan by supporting Beijing's man
Kirsty Needham, State Political Editor
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Enjoying a glass of red wine, Chinese businessman William Chiu announced he would donate $25,000 if the NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith sang him three songs. Mr Smith obliged with Elvis and Sinatra.
How did a student Maoist, arrested by the Malaysian government, imprisoned and tortured for his links to Communist insurgents, come to have the NSW Liberal government singing his tune 40 years later?
William Chiu built close relations with NSW MPs on both sides of politics. Photo: Andrew DarbyIn 1974, Mr Chiu was known in Australia as Khoo Ee Liam, a cause celebre for left-wing activists who protested in the streets, calling for the Malaysian to be freed. Wikileaks documents revealed US State Department cables monitoring the international tensions his case ignited.
When he died in June 2015, he had become the NSW Liberals key link to Sydney's Chinese community. Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian expressed her sadness at the loss of NSW Parliament's "very close friend".
Bob Carr with Chinese official Zhu Weiqun (also standing next to the scroll) and "living buddha" Tudeng Kezhu (wearing a robe). Photo: People's DailyMr Smith, along with other NSW Liberal MPs to benefit from Mr Chiu's donations, or sponsored travel to China, told Fairfax Media this week they had no idea of his previous identity.
"Maybe it is a good idea that political parties ask more questions," said the Liberal MP for Oatley, Mark Coure, who received $1990 from Mr Chiu for the 2015 election.
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The Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, founded by Mr Chiu in 2000, attracted scrutiny this week because its new president, Huang Xiangmo, complained that Australian politicians treated the Chinese like "cash cows". Mr Huang vowed to extract some political return.
But Mr Chiu was the model for Mr Huang's recent large donations to universities and charities, as he skilfully cultivated close relationships with NSW politicians over 16 years in the deploy of Beijing's "soft power".
There were clashes as thousands of Chinese people and hundreds of Tibetans watched the 2008 Olympic torch relay in Canberra. Photo: Jason SouthCondolence motions in the NSW Parliament had MPs from both sides warmly espouse Mr Chiu's work for "the peaceful reunification of China", flatly contradicting Australian foreign policy on Taiwan.
He donated big to universities, gave to NSW politicians' election campaigns, and sponsored MPs travel to Tibet and China with his medical charity. They reciprocated by becoming ACPPRC "advisers" (Liberal MPs Jonathan O'Dea, Daryl Maguire, Mr Coure and Labor's Sonia Hornery and Ernest Wong), attending dinners, and making Mr Chiu a life member of the NSW Parliament's Asia-Pacific Friendship Group.
Premier Mike Baird attends the 15th anniversary dinner of the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China (ACPPRC) in March 2015. Mr Chiu gained regular access to NSW Parliament to launch events promoting China's "peaceful reunification" in front of Chinese government TV cameras.
The term is offensive to Taiwanese Australians, and the council's activities – exhibitions promoting China's control of Tibet, or visits by Beijing's substitute for the Dalai Lama – upset Tibetan Australians.
Yet such was Mr Chiu's status that the ACPPRC pays for NSW Premier Mike Baird to flick the switch to turn the Opera House red for Chinese New Year.
It paid $10,000 to fund the Premier's 2016 Harmony Dinner, and has paid $10,000 a year to sponsor the NSW government's Multicultural Marketing Awards since 2011.
The first time Mr Smith sang for Mr Chiu, the money went to the Lions Club. In 2012 Mr Chiu was the only non-politician to become a member of the NSW Parliamentary Lions.
Former premier Barry O'Farrell laid a wreath at Mr Chiu's Sydney Town Hall memorial. But it was his other funeral, at the Babaoshan Cemetery in Beijing, reserved for communism's revolutionary heroes, that was the clue to his past.
Rebel with a cause
In 1974, Khoo Ee Liam's detention by Malaysian authorities under the Internal Securities Act sparked student protests across New Zealand and Australia. He had been a student activist here in the late 1960s.
By December, the Malaysian Minister Mahathir Mohamed, hit out at Australian students "meddling" in his country's affairs.
The US State Department appeared annoyed at the students, and sympathetic to Malaysia's claims that Mr Khoo had aided the guerilla Malayan National Liberation Army upon his return to Malaysia in 1971, Wikileaks cables revealed.
Former activist David Cuthbert met Mr Khoo when they were officials for the student union at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Mr Cuthbert says when the New Zealand security agencies, decades later, showed him his surveillance file, it contained photographs of the pair at anti-apartheid rallies and protests against US submarine bases. He said he couldn't confirm Mr Khoo's links with the Malaysian Communist Party, but "suspects it is true".
By 1987, Mr Khoo was living in Hong Kong, but his business was Beijing. He visited Mr Cuthbert in New Zealand to ask for help setting up a New Zealand company called Golden Glory International.
Mr Khoo had an 86 per cent stake in the Badaling Great Wall cable car project, and wanted Mr Cuthbert and trade union leader Dave Morgan to become directors of the NZ shelf company.
Mr Cuthbert was unaware Mr Khoo had later settled in Australia, but unsurprised by his ACPPRC activity. "He had a real ability to get on and very good skills in mixing with people," he said.
"Khoo would have no particular problem dealing with the conservative side of politics if the politicians could be helpful in a cause."
Name change in Australia
Khoo Ee Liam arrived in Sydney in 2000 using the name William Chiu. Hong Kong court records show Khoo Ee Liam had spent the previous three years trying to raise cash through a backdoor listing and asset swap on the Australian Stock Exchange for Golden Glory. It struck problems when Deloittes valued his cable car business at $28 million, half of what Mr Khoo had hoped for. The ASX refused to let the new entity trade because it didn't have enough Australian-based shareholders.
Despite Golden Glory's cash problems, Mr Chiu created international headlines in 2002 when he paid $1 million to host a World Congress on the Peaceful Reunification of China at Darling Harbour. He reportedly paid former US president Bill Clinton $300,000 to speak alongside Beijing cadres. Mr Clinton was accused of "selling out" by Taiwan media. There were violent clashes.
In 2008, the ACPPRC organised the large-scale bussing of Chinese students to Canberra for the 2008 Olympic torch relay. The display of Chinese nationalism, and violent clashes with Tibetan protesters, again made headlines. It was reminiscent of Mr Khoo's student activist days.
In Beijing, where he was a member of the National People's Consultative Congress, Mr Chiu was lauded for his idea to raise $140 million from overseas Chinese globally to fund construction of the Olympic Water Cube swimming venue as a display of loyalty.
Meredith Burgmann, the former NSW Labor MLC, received $4000 from Mr Chiu. She said she worked out he was Mr Khoo and told him she had once marched in the streets for his freedom. "He was proud of his dissident activity, and talked openly about it," she said. "The Liberals didn't ask questions."
Mr Chiu accompanied Mr O'Farrell to Beijing when he made his first visit as premier in 2011, US intelligence cables released on Wikileaks noted.
A spokeswoman for Mr Baird said the ACPPRC was a non-government non-profit community organisation.
"The attendance of the Premier at such events recognises the contribution of our multicultural communities to the NSW fabric: it does not constitute a position on foreign policy, which is entirely a matter for the Commonwealth," she said.
She said the use of Parliament facilities was a matter for the presiding officers "but the Parliament has always been used for engagement between MPs and community organisations".
Mr Smith said: "There was never any suggestion you had to do anything for any small amount [Mr Chiu] had donated to my SEC. I like singing and he liked my singing. I see that as a legitimate way of fundraising."
Ms Berejiklian said 30 per cent of her electorate of Willoughby were Chinese-Australians. "As the local member, I am often asked to attend community events representing the Chinese-Australian community," she said.
Mr Coure said he understood that statements on the peaceful reunification of China were controversial, but foreign policy was "a federal issue".
"As a member of state Parliament I want to work with all Chinese groups ... I am not out to offend anyone," he said.
Mr Maguire, who launched the ACPPRC Tibetan events at NSW Parliament in front of Chinese cameras, said Mr Chiu was "a genuine person, he never asked me for one thing ... probably the opposite of the current chairman [Mr Huang]".
It is with sadness that the University of Western Sydney acknowledges the passing of Dr William Chiu after a period of illness.
A leading member of Sydney's Malaysian and Chinese communities, Dr Chiu was widely recognised for his continuous service in many organisations within the Sydney Chinese community and his dedication to the promotion of friendly relationships between Australia and China.
He was a passionate supporter and promoter for world peace and for China's peaceful reunification.
Dr Chiu has also been a wonderful friend to UWS over many years through his generous philanthropic support, in particular, the establishment of Exchange and Study Abroad scholarships.
This initiative provides scholarships to support Australian students at UWS to travel to China.
Dr Chiu's significant generosity has been critical in helping UWS to develop closer relations with other universities in China, and to encourage and support students to pursue studies in Chinese language and culture.
In recognition of his work to foster China-Australia relationships and his significant contributions to Australian public life and the communities of Greater Western Sydney, the University was proud to award Dr Chiu a Doctor of Letters honoris causa in April 2014.
On behalf of the University of Western Sydney community, I extend our sincerest condolences to Dr Chiu's family, as well as his many friends and colleagues.
Barney Glover
Vice-Chancellor and President
Enjoying a glass of red wine, Chinese businessman William Chiu announced he would donate $25,000 if the NSW attorney-general Greg Smith sang him three songs. Mr Smith obliged with Elvis and Sinatra.
How did a student Maoist, arrested by the Malaysian government, imprisoned and tortured for his links to Communist insurgents, come to have the NSW Liberal government singing his tune 40 years later?
In 1974, Mr Chiu was known in Australia as Khoo Ee Liam, a cause celebre for left-wing activists who protested in the streets calling for the Malaysian to be freed. Wikileaks documents revealed US State Department cables monitoring the international tensions his case ignited.
When he died in June 2015, he had become the NSW Liberals' key link to Sydney's Chinese community. Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian expressed her sadness at the loss of NSW Parliament's "very close friend".
Mr Smith, along with other NSW Liberal MPs to benefit from Mr Chiu's donations, or sponsored travel to China, told Fairfax Media this week they had no idea of his previous identity.
"Maybe it is a good idea that political parties ask more questions," said the Liberal MP for Oatley, Mark Coure, who received $1990 from Mr Chiu for the 2015 election.
The Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, founded by Mr Chiu in 2000, has attracted scrutiny this week because its new president, Huang Xiangmo, complained that Australian politicians treated the Chinese like "cash cows". Mr Huang vowed to extract some political return.
But Mr Chiu was the model for Mr Huang's recent large donations to universities and charities, as he skilfully cultivated close relationships with NSW politicians over 16 years in the deploy of Beijing's "soft power".
Condolence motions in the NSW Parliament saw MPs from both sides warmly espouse Mr Chiu's work for "the peaceful reunification of China" - flatly contradicting Australian foreign policy on Taiwan.
He donated big to universities, gave to NSW politicians' election campaigns, and sponsored MPs' travel to Tibet and China with his medical charity. They reciprocated by becoming ACPPRC "advisers" (Liberal MPs Jonathan O'Dea, Daryl Maguire, Mr Coure and Labor's Sonia Hornery and Ernest Wong), attending dinners, and making Mr Chiu a life member of the NSW Parliament's Asia-Pacific Friendship Group.
Mr Chiu gained regular access to NSW Parliament to launch events promoting China's "peaceful reunification" in front of Chinese government TV cameras.
The term is offensive to Taiwanese Australians, and the council's activities - exhibitions promoting China's control of Tibet, or visits by Beijing's substitute for the Dalai Lama - upset Tibetan Australians.
Yet such was Mr Chiu's status that the ACPPRC pays for Mike Baird to flick the switch and turn the Opera House red for Chinese New Year. It paid $10,000 to fund the Premier's 2016 Harmony Dinner, and has paid $10,000 a year to sponsor the NSW government's Multicultural Marketing Awards since 2011.
The first time Mr Smith sang for Mr Chiu, the money went to the Lions Club. In 2012 Mr Chiu was the only non-politician to become a member of the NSW Parliamentary Lions.
Former premier Barry O'Farrell laid a wreath at Mr Chiu's Sydney Town Hall memorial. But it was his other funeral, at the Babaoshan Cemetery in Beijing, reserved for communism's revolutionary heroes, that was the clue to his past.
In 1974, Khoo Ee Liam's detention by Malaysian authorities under the Internal Security Act sparked student protests across New Zealand and Australia. He had been a student activist here in the late 1960s.
Malaysian minister Mahathir Mohamed hit out at Australian students "meddling" in his country's affairs.
Former activist David Cuthbert met Khoo when they were both officials for the student union at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Mr Cuthbert says when the New Zealand security agencies, decades later, showed him his surveillance file, it contained photographs of the pair at anti-apartheid rallies and protests against US submarine bases. He says he can't confirm Khoo was linked with the Malaysian Communist Party, but "suspects it is true".
By 1987 Khoo was living in Hong Kong, but his business was Beijing. He visited Mr Cuthbert in New Zealand to ask for help setting up a New Zealand company called Golden Glory International.
Khoo had an 86 per cent stake in the Badaling Great Wall cable car project, and wanted Mr Cuthbert and trade union leader Dave Morgan to become directors of the NZ shelf company.
Mr Cuthbert was unaware Khoo had later settled in Australia, but unsurprised by his ACPPRC activity. "He had a real ability to get on and very good skills in mixing with people," he said.
"Khoo would have no particular problem dealing with the conservative side of politics if the politicians could be helpful in a cause."
Khoo Ee Liam arrived in Sydney in 2000 using the name William Khoo. Hong Kong court records show Khoo Ee Liam had spent the previous three years trying to raise cash through a backdoor listing and asset swap on the Australian Stock Exchange for Golden Glory. It struck problems when Deloittes valued his cable car business at $28 million, half what Khoo hoped. The ASX refused to let the new entity trade, because it didn't have enough Australian-based shareholders.
Despite Golden Glory's cash problems, Mr Chiu created international headlines in 2002 when he paid $1 million to host a World Congress on the Peaceful Reunification of China at Darling Harbour. He reportedly paid former US president Bill Clinton $300,000 to speak alongside Beijing cadres. Mr Clinton was accused of "selling out" by Taiwan media. There were violent clashes.
In 2008, the ACPPRC organised the large-scale bussing of Chinese students to Canberra for the Olympic torch relay. The display of Chinese nationalism and violent clashes with Tibetan protesters made headlines. It was reminiscent of Khoo's student activist days.
Meredith Burgmann, the former NSW Labor MLC, received $4000 from Mr Chiu. She says she worked out he was Khoo, and told him she had once marched in the streets for his freedom. "He was proud of his dissident activity, and talked openly about it," she says.
Mr Chiu accompanied Mr O'Farrell to Beijing when he made his first visit as premier in 2011, US intelligence cables released on Wikileaks noted.
A spokeswoman for Mr Baird said the ACPPRC was a non-government non-profit community organisation.
"The attendance of the Premier at such events ... does not constitute a position on foreign policy, which is entirely a matter for the Commonwealth," she said.
She said the use of Parliament facilities was a matter for the presiding officers "but the Parliament has always been used for engagement between MPs and community organisations".
Mr Smith said: "There was never any suggestion you had to do anything for any small amount [Mr Chiu] had donated to my SEC. I like singing and he liked my singing. I see that as a legitimate way of fundraising."
Ms Berejiklian said 30 per cent of her electorate of Willoughby were Chinese-Australians. "As the local member, I am often asked to attend community events representing the Chinese-Australian community," she said.
Mr Coure said he understood that statements on the peaceful reunification of China were controversial, but foreign policy was "a federal issue". "As a member of state parliament I want to work with all Chinese groups," he said.
Mr Maguire, who launched the ACPPRC Tibetan events at NSW Parliament in front of Chinese TV cameras, said Mr Chiu was "a genuine person, he never asked me for one thing ... probably the opposite of the current chairman [Mr Huang]."
The money trail
A Fairfax Media analysis of donations to the NSW 2015 election campaign show individual office holders of the Australia Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China donated $16,245 to the NSW Liberals.
The ACPPRC has paid the NSW government to light the Opera House red for Chinese New Year for the past three years.
The ACPPRC pays $10,000 to sponsor the Premier's Harmony Dinner, and paid $10,000 to fund the Multicultural Marketing Awards since 2011.
William Chiu's donation returns show that between 2012 and 2014, he donated a combined $10,228 to federal and NSW Liberal candidates in Epping (Greg Smith), Davidson (Jonathan O'Dea), Berowra (Philip Ruddock), Parramatta (Geoff Lee), and Oatley (Mark Coure).
He donated $150,000 to NSW Labor and the Australian Labor Party between 2011 and 2012.
$500,000 to the University of Western Sydney, and $65,000 to the University of Sydney.
Fairfax Media Management Pty Limited
Document SHD0000020160903ec940000v
AS THE deputy mayor of Wellington, Alick Shaw is the respectable face of local body politics.
But the former firebrand student leader was once at the centre of a major diplomatic stoush between New Zealand and Malaysia -- and the subject of anxious dispatches from American envoys worried about the implications.
The year was 1974, and relations were at a low ebb as New Zealand students protested against the treatment of Malaysian colleagues arrested for their political activities in this country when they returned home.
Events came to a head when the arrest of former Canterbury University student Khoo Ee Liam in June sparked a violent protest outside the Malaysian high commission in Wellington.
A newly declassified United States diplomatic cable reports how a barrage of eggs and stones were thrown at the building, smashing a window and showering those inside with glass.
High commissioner Jack de Silva accused the New Zealand authorities of colluding with the protesters and demanded an apology.
Mr Shaw, who was the University Students' Association's international vice-president at the time, found himself at the centre of the dispute after he was denied access to Malaysia when he tried to visit six months later to meet student leaders there.
The US embassy in Kuala Lumpur felt the ban was significant enough to report to its political masters, though it mistakenly referred to Mr Shaw as "Alex".
"(New Zealand high commissioner Adrian Simcock) is disturbed because of potential for new anti-Malaysian student demonstrations in NZ over Shaw entry ban and (government of Malaysia) surveillance of Malaysian students there," the cable says.
Mr Simcock was so worried that he asked the Malaysian government to overturn the ban, but it was adamant, it says.
Mr Shaw recalls the events as if they were yesterday. "I was literally walking out the door of my office with my suitcase in my hand and the phone rang and it was Foreign Affairs saying, `Don't go, they're not going to let you in.'
"These were issues that caused enormous tension between the New Zealand and Malaysian governments at the time, there's no question at all about that. What I find really interesting is why the US should be so interested."
However, he was not fazed about his name appearing in the cables -- in fact he was surprised he did not pop up more, given his "interesting relationship with the American embassy".
He said he now viewed Malaysia through different eyes, and had since visited several times. He had even looked up Mr de Silva, and met him for a meal.
"I would regard myself as a very active friend of Malaysia these days. I'm a regular visitor. I don't resile from what I did as a young man, but times change. Times were different then."
Fairfax New Zealand Limited
Document DOMPOS0020060427e24s0000a
A cargo of 140 cattle will leave Melbourne Airport for Shanghai in a 747 jet today as part of a $20 million speculative deal with the Chinese Government that has stunned and embarrassed the Australian beef and livestock industries.
Two Malaysian-born Chinese Australians, Mr Khoo Ee Liam and Mr Bernard Phut, have stepped around a labyrinth of Chinese import protocols, stealing a significant advantage over Australian competitors and embarrassing the marketing arm of the Australian beef industry.
Mr Liam and Mr Phut are the principals of Kurrajong Corporation, a stud based in Bordertown, South Australia, which produces the obscure South Devon breed of cattle.
The shipment will become the basis for upgrading a herd in Jilin Province near Shanghai.
Under the contract, the Chinese will also be provided with frozen semen, embryos and technical back-up for breeding and research programs to improve commercial cattle herds in the province.
Mr Khut, an economic adviser to Jilin Province, steered the Chinese on to the breed on the strength of its temperament - purportedly suited to aircraft transport - milk quality and genetic characteristics adaptable to Chinese conditions.
The breakthrough into the Chinese market follows Australian Government dissatisfaction with the speed of meat industry reform and marketing initiatives. The Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, Mr John Anderson, recently announced a joint government-industry taskforce to expedite the industry restructuring.
The industry needed to tackle "its commercial and marketing opportunities and management challenges," he said.
Document smhh000020011015ds5800b0s
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