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Published on November 25, 2007

The Labor Party victory in yesterday's Australian election was long overdue. With youth, charisma and an outward-looking approach on his side, Kevin Rudd managed to seize power from John Howard, who has served as prime minister for the last 11 years. The incumbent, the second-longest serving prime minister in Australian history, must be given credit for revitalising the economy Down Under and expanding Canberra's role in international politics.

As of press time, and with more than 70 per cent of the ballots counted, the Australian Electoral Commission had the Labor Party leading with 53 per cent of the vote, compared with 46.7 per cent for Howard's coalition. An analysis from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation forecast that Labour would take 81 out of the 150 lower-house seats in Parliament, thus forming a majority.

Now under new leadership, Australia must work towards building a future in which the nation can work in harmony with Asia. Although ties between Australia and the rest of Asia are better than ever, Australia has yet to fully establish itself in the hearts and minds of Asians. In order to do that, Australia must think of Asia first and foremost in terms of foreign relations.

Let us not forget that in the 1980s, when the region was ravaged with violence and the conflict in Cambodia, Australia played a leading role in ending the 14-year conflict through its hard work and genuine interest in bringing about peace in the region. Canberra was able during that time to nurture that kind of trust among conflicting parties in this part of the world. It is up to the new Labor leader to restore and nurture that favourable sentiment.

When economic cooperation between parties in the region was still in its infancy, Australian academics and policy-makers were actively seeking out ways to promote regional trade and economic cooperation as well as collective security. The stress was on collective and regional development. This demonstrated a strong desire on the part of Australia to be a part of the region and take an active role within it.

Back then, some members of Asean, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, were hostile towards Australia's integration with the region. That changed during Howard's term as prime minister, even though he spent his time in office paying more attention to the West and engaging in joint activities with the US. However, the rapid changes that have taken place on the international scene coupled with Australia's strong economy have resulted in the country becoming a regional partner in terms of economics and security.

Australia has strengthened its level of economic cooperation with Asean as a whole and individually with member countries in the past few years. Singapore and Thailand concluded free-trade agreements with Australia and other Asean members will do the same. Of course, the most historic moment came when Australia decided to sign the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. The decision came 15 years too late, but nevertheless it was a pivotal move that enabled Australia to join other Asean-plus-three countries, India and New Zealand as founding members of the East Asian Summit. Australia has been active in the East Asia Summit and would like to use it as a vehicle for a broader community in East Asia.

There was much hype surrounding the future Australian prime minister's ability to speak putonghua. (The Australian media, still uses the term "Mandarin" to denote standardised Chinese.) Putonghua is steadily moving toward becoming the lingua franca between Asia and Australia, no longer the mandarin of the Opium Wars. Rudd's language abilities will certainly help, especially when he is able to converse with one of the world's rising powers, but good relations with Asia will go beyond language barriers.

Therefore, it is incumbent on Rudd to create and foster new relationships with Asia that are based on genuine equality. Now is the time for him to do that.

If Australia is able to find its place in Asia, it will make Asia more prosperous and peaceful. Rudd is fortunate to be able to lead Australia now, because his country has, overall, the best relations with Asean and Asia of any foreign country. He just needs to accelerate those relations with an Asian touch.