When I returned for a holiday to Sabah two years back, a friend asked me: "So, how's life down under?"

I answered: "It couldn't be better. We're very happy in our adopted country."

"Just wait till there are five or six more Pauline Hansons, then you'll see," retorted my friend.

I could see that it would be pointless to try to enlighten my friend and so I didn't even try to. Five or six Pauline Hansons? It was very strange that he couldn't see that there could be at least 50,000 or 60,000 equivalent Pauline Hansons in Malaysia!

Anyway, our one and only Pauline Hanson was recently jailed for three years, not for her alleged bigotry, but for alleged electoral fraud. So, now we don't have the feared lady roaming free in the community at large.

I can attest to the fact that, at the height of her popularity, no one in my family of five experienced any racially motivated abuse or discrimination, no matter where we happened to be.

My son was elected school captain in one of the best state primary schools in Queensland with a student population of about 1,500 of mainly white Caucasians. It was strictly a merit-based election process. This, I think, really exposed the lie about so-called Asian discrimination Down Under.

In my work as a registered tax agent, there was never a dull moment. My client's base is made up of clients who are true-blooded Aussies and migrants from at least a dozen other countries. One of my clients who escaped from the Tianamen Square upheaval in 1989 is now running a wholesale business with an annual sales turnover of AUD2,500,000.

He likes to take his 4x4 Mercedes Benz for a run on the beach now and again. One day, his wheels got bogged down deep in the sand and guess what? A bunch of white Aussie guys rushed up to help lift his vehicle out of the sand. Apparently, it was not in their nature to take satisfaction in finding a Chinaman in deep trouble.

What I really like about secondary school education in Australia is that a large part of the curriculum is project-based. Students are always given tough research-intensive projects to complete and present. Another invaluable experience for qualified students is to be involved in the annual inter-school debating competitions.

In every endeavor of your life Down Under, whether you're a student or a working adult, you can do whatever you want as long as you're qualified. A smart and clever student can study medicine, law or any other course in a university of his or her choosing.

An outstanding law or accounting graduate can easily find a good job in a good firm. An unemployed medical or pharmacy graduate is unheard of.

You only start to repay the cost of your government subsidised university education gradually through the tax system once your annual taxable income reaches a threshold. This way, hardly anyone can complain that he or she can't afford a university education.

Equal opportunities abound and to top it all, the climate in Queensland is beautiful, especially in autumn, winter and spring.

If I could turn the clock backwards, I would still do what I did, and that is to transplant my family to this free country even if there were five or six Pauline Hansons in a population of 20 million or so.