Mr. Eko Waluyo, a humanitarian activist who has lived in Australia for a long time, gave his opinion on the changes in the celebration of Australia Day in the past to the present day.
In the 1990s Australia Day was seen as a national holiday and it was a nice thing to enjoy and meet some friends for a barbecue and so on.
By reading about what Australia Day is and watching TV and so on and reviewing the area to Redfern, where the Aboriginal community with its lives is very underdeveloped and it raises a pretty big question.
And since then, perhaps more than 10 years, he has been active in the January action known as Invasion Day.
Why are there two opinions on this Australia Day?
According to Mr. Eko, this also includes a historical process or an educational process that he has received since living in Australia about the meaning of Australia Day on January 26.
By attending rallies on every 26 January, we can communicate with the participants, exchange ideas and there are posters where we have to see what the main issues are and so on.
And meet some involved people from a wide range of backgrounds that are not just Aboriginal people, Australians themselves in the sense of white people are also getting more involved in the actions of Invasion Day.
It provides an education and is an opportunity for migrants especially Indonesians to see what Australia Day is from a perspective on justice.
“Learn about problems, their problems, and so on. So the most chance that January 26 as a Holiday is to mourn with them, understand what they feel, and if the term is Bung Karno, let's not leave history behind, is history.
And we live in Australia, we should never pretend to be ignorant about this issue.”
"So this is a pretty serious issue, and we as migrants have to know and do what we can do. Because we are living on their land," Mr. Eko said.
