Joseph Masilamany, who was in Australia recently, toasts to a warmer Canberra-KL atmosphere after a meeting with Malaysian High Commissioner to Australia Datuk Salim Hashim at his Canberra residence.

It is a commonly held notion that Kuala Lumpur-Canberra ties are as icy as a southerly wind. However, speaking to Malaysian journalists recently at his Forrest residence in the nation's bush capital, Malaysian High Commissioner Datuk Salim Hashim put paid to this misperception.

He said relations between Kuala Lumpur and Canberra have always been good and cordial and only needed a little warming up from time to time - just like in any other relationship.

Also present at the dinner were representatives from the Australian-Malaysian Institute (AMI), its secretariat manager Elena Balogh and project manager for Malaysia and Thailand Anne Louttit.

"Let us not forget that Malaysia and Australia have a veritable track record in bilateral collaborations," said Salim.

"And this goes back to the Second World War, the period of the Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation."

According to Salim, though these events are sad blimps in history, they also hold fond memories for both nations, especially the special bonding that existed between them.

Nostalgic ringtones

A penchant for calling up those sentimental moments ring as the "workman's tool" for the 56-year-old envoy.

Salim's switchboard formula of "turning the heater on when things get cold" is not something to be sniffed at. It might be the best "tact device" for keeping a 60-year friendship between the two countries strong and resolute.

His simple solution is best reflected in the anecdote that leftover curry (refrigerated, of course) tastes even better the following day. With its rich stock, all it needs is a little "heating up" before it could be savoured again.

Salim prefers to engage in tomorrow's bargains than in yesterday's baggage; in today's possibilities than in history's pitfalls.

Hence, he refrained from touching on the time when KL-Canberra relations soured during former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's 22 years in office.

And, as if on cue, none of the journalists present attempted to pit in their polemic on the "Mahathir Metapolitics" or even tried to frustrate Salim by mentioning it.

Immersed in the nostalgic ringtones of yesteryear, Salim was eager to re-engineer those good old days when the two capitals shared fraternal moments of friendship and goodwill.

He even urged AMI to organise cricket clinics in Malaysia to enhance people-to-people amity and he well remembers the camaraderie shared by members of the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Malaysian Air Force based in Butterworth.

As for the journalists present, they warmed up to his savvy nine-month stewardship as high commissioner, even when he would only say "Read Turtle Beach" when theSun asked: "What was the strangest thing you have heard about Malaysia from an Australian?"

Turtle Beach, which first appeared in 1981, was largely set in Malaysia's east coast state of Terengganu. It provides an unflattering picture of Asians, with Australian author Blanche D'Alpuget employing language as a tool to belittle and disempower non-whites. Although the author claims to be post-colonialist, Turtle Beach smacks of racism.

But Salim offered nothing more on Turtle Beach and neither did he give a direct answer to the writer's question.

However, there was an unspoken hint that he believes D'Alpuget's thoughts do not necessarily represent the views of the larger Australian citizenry.

But for all his romantic yearnings for the niceties of the 40s to the 70s between Australia and Malaysia, Salim could have also cajoled his guests to explore A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute.

And perhaps he could have also recommended The Frightened Country by Alan Renouf, a former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Australian Foreign Office. Renouf wrote The Frightened Country in 1979, obviously in reference to an Australia gripped by fear of the large land masses of its Asian neighbours.

When theSun suggested that Australia, finding itself increasingly in a "geopolitical home-alone situation" - and thus strickened by a fevered imagination of an Asian threat and now wants to be a part of Asia, Salim disagreed.

"There is no threat whatsoever, whether Asian or otherwise; perhaps Australia has for too long orientated itself to the west and it is seen by most Asians as an Anglo-Saxon state," he said.

He suggested that with new opportunities in Asia, not only Australia but everybody else wants to get in the act.

"There is no doubt that the Australian government is re-focusing on Asia and this move is in fact a reflection of how Asia itself has evolved and also how Australia too has changed."

Salim said Australia is now a lot more confident that it can deal with opportunities in Asia, especially with the rapid emergence of China and India as economic powers.

But as much as Salim chooses to be discerning, being the gentleman diplomat that he is, he has a task to accomplish - reassuring the big white land mass called "Down Under" of Kuala Lumpur's goodwill.

Raising a toast of friendship to Canberra in the post-Mahathir epoch is a mission that Salim seems well attuned to undertake, having been a diplomat for more than 30 years.

Negative takes

Australia's big chill with Malaysia began with the hanging of convicted Australian drug-runners Kevin John Barlow and Brian Geoffery Chambers in July 1986 in Kuala Lumpur under Malaysia's tough anti-drug laws.

Then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke described the hangings as barbaric, infuriating Mahathir. This led to an anti-Australian sentiment, which harmed Malaysian business as the country was Australia's third largest trading partner in Asean and ranked No. 13 overall.

Mahathir was often miffed at negative takes of Malaysia by the Australian media and called on the government to intervene - an action that would politically be impossible in Australia.

In 1993, Paul Keating tagged Mahathir as "recalcitrant" for snubbing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

This brought KL-Canberra relations to an almost painful inertia with the Malaysian government threatening trade sanctions.

Canberra hastily attempted to neutralise the agitation, saying it was a linguistic gaffe and what Keating actually meant was "intransigent".

But the damage was done, and Mahathir and his Australian counterpart continued to exchange barbs every time a nerve got nicked.

Mahathir took Keating's successor, John Howard, to task for allegedly condoning Pauline Hanson, whose views were widely seen in Asia as racist and as harking back to the White Australian Policy.

Hanson was a former member of the Liberal Party and while her One Nation Party had no connections with Howard's party, it was widely perceived in Australia and elsewhere to be tacitly condoned by Howard.

Diplomacy gone wrong

Another sticky point was Mahathir's stance that a nation has the right to do whatever it wants within its borders - a mechanism articulated in the Asean policy of non-interference, which Mahathir bandied about as "sovereignty".

However, the Australian penchant for spelling out the do's and don'ts to its neighbours swirled like an opposing tide - so Mahathir spewed lava.

"If Australia wants to be a friend to Asia, it should stop behaving as if it is there to teach us how to run our country," he retorted.

"It is a small nation in numbers and it should therefore behave like a small nation and not be a teacher," he rebuked the nation of 19 million people.

According to Mahathir, Australia stands out like a sore thumb, trying to impose its European values in Asia, as if it is reliving the good old days when people can shoot aborigines without caring about human rights!

The former prime minister also lent Howard the epithet "America's Deputy Sheriff", after Howard threatened to initiate pre-emptive strikes beyond the borders of its neighbours, if necessary.

In a diplomacy gone awfully wrong, Mahathir rattled not only Canberra but Asian leaders as well when he denounced Australia as the "White Trash of Asia".

Even after retirement, Mahathir's perception of Canberra hardly softened, as he still remains a staunch supporter of the East Asia Economic Caucus as an all-Asian alternative to the Apec that Australia fathered.

He is vehement that Australia is too "un-Asian" to be admitted into the East Asia pact.

However, Mahathir's tirades do not make him the only "stand-alone bogeyman" to the frequent spat with Canberra.

The outspoken critic has always been averse to Australia's alleged feeling of smug superiority and in the way it projects itself as the standard bearer of rights - chiding its Asian neighbours in censorious tones.

Mahathir has always felt that Australia's moral posturing is jejune, considering its own rights record at home.

New bonding

However, new winds of change are now blowing across the Timor Sea - not only between Australia and Malaysia but also Australia and its Asian neighbours like Indonesia, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.

Salim seems set to spark-plug a new commitment to a shared future between Malaysia and Australia and initiate trade and investment opportunities, security cooperation, education and people-to-people ties as well as collaboration in the areas of science, medicine and education.

Malaysia's direct investment in Australia accounts for 1.3% of Australia's total, but Australian direct investment in Malaysia accounts for only 0.2% of Australia's investment overseas.

A one-sided deficit - but it must not be forgotten that Mahathir's relentless tirade against Canberra in the past may have tripped trade winds the wrong way - that Malaysia lacks interest in Australia's capital!

And perhaps the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur might have spent too much time simply trying to stave off Mahathir's one-too-many carping rhetoric towards Canberra - that there was very little time left to deepen and extend bilateral ties.

However, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's official visit to Australia in April last year (the first by a Malaysian premier since 1984) signals a new and significant gravitation in KL-Canberra relations.

Abdullah arrived with seven ministers, a deputy minister and 26 heavyweight business leaders, hand-picked by the Prime Minister's Department.

Prior to Abdullah's visit, a media release from Howard's office read: "During Prime Minister Abdullah's visit, I look forward to exploring areas in which we can further build and strengthen the relations between us.

"We are also reflecting the strengths of our economic links and both governments have undertaken in recent months parallel scoping studies to assess the possibility of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement."

Dr Wendy A. Smith, director of the Centre for Malaysian Studies at Monash University, said Australians view Abdullah's visit as a "new experience" in bilateral collaboration and one that is more than just symbolic.

She said the visit was not only timely but a great gesture by an Asian statesman.

"It will evolve a climate of confidence and a positive verve in areas of mutual cooperation between both nations," she said.

Smith's thoughts are echoed by other Australians whom theSun spoke to, and who believe that Abdullah's visit was "high-level" and not just a polite non-event.

Salim, appointed mission head just four months after Abdullah's visit, also finds himself in the forefront of a fresh and significant step forward in bilateral ties.

In the last few months he has been widely travelling, meeting potential investors and businessmen and touching base with Malaysian citizens, students and educationists.

A mild-mannered and modest man, Segamat-born Salim is convinced that there is no need to "reinvent the wheel" with respect to ties with Australia.

"There is already so much happening on the ground and many 'structures' are already in place and they were established decades ago.

"What needs to be done is to maintain, be consistent and engender continuity," he emphasised.

Perhaps Salim is right: The wheel is out there and it only needs to spin - and to keep on spinning.

With Salim in the driver's seat and in turbo-mode, a potent diplomatic torque is now in place.