When we were children, our parents taught us to say “sorry” upon wrongs we had done against others. This is universal and not unique to the western culture. Australia and other modern nations have in the past conducted reconciliation processes in our efforts to reunite peoples previously divided by their actions and understandings. Some have even been successful in bringing justice and peace to those previously oppressed and victimised.

It is impossible today to imagine an Australia that is mono-cultural. Out of the 195 nations across the world, immigrants have made Australia home for centuries.

And this is despite Australian laws like the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (also known as the White Australia Policy) which was in effect until 1973. Or blatant anti-Chinese immigration and taxation laws enacted in 1855 by the then Colony of Victoria, or even the Chinese Immigrant Regulation and Restriction Act of 1861 by the Colony of New South Wales. You would be outraged and would fight back if you were taxed significantly more, or restricted entry because of you were targeted for your poor communications skills, just because you were Chinese (or at least not English).

But it would be unfair to simply single out Australia’s past and expect an apology. In context, Australia could have been a very different country given that China’s Admiral Zheng He discovered Australia centuries before Captain Cook. Even in the 21^st century, there exist Asian countries where you cannot become a citizen despite generations of your family having lived there for years and communicating fluently in the local language because of their pro-Asian immigration policies (a reverse of last century’s White Australia Policy).

There exist sincere Australian parliamentarians who are contemplating the fruitfulness of saying “sorry” to Chinese-Australians. No doubt, there would be Chinese-Australians who today genuinely still feel aggrieved by overtly anti-Chinese Australian laws of old. But there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese-Australians who are first or second generation Australians who have had no such experience of overtly racist acts because of the successful (albeit still imperfect) multicultural nation we have come to expect and appreciate of Australia and fellow Australians.

While an apology would be nice and principled, the overwhelming majority of Chinese-Australians are not expecting or wanting one. This is not because we intend to ignore Australia’s past. And for that, all Chinese-Australians would unanimously agree that Australia’s history, no matter how dark and unpleasant it may be, must be taught at least to our children and shared with each other in order for us not to deny our past, but to acknowledge it and ensure it never happens in our future.

By example, whenever we get to meet younger Japanese tourists holidaying in Australia, we feel an internal cringe when we discover that so many have a lack of knowledge or understanding of their country’s involvement during World War II because they were never taught. This cringe would also occur if Australians do not know of our past. Instead, by learning from our past, we evolve and mature for our national benefit.

It is also fair to say that many Chinese-Australians would not want to receive an apology because we do not see ourselves today as victims of the past or dwelling in the past. Instead, Chinese-Australians are proud of our lineage and our home, whether we were born here or are immigrants. After all, even though we may represent a small percentage in Australia, 1 in 5 human beings in the world is Chinese, and we permeate virtually every facet of the modern Australian social, economic and political life. The old insulting term “yellow peril” has evolved to become a possible reality if Australia and the west do not engage properly and respectfully with the east.

Perhaps instead of seeking an Australian apology, what Chinese-Australians are already empowered to offer is thoughtful and generous forgiveness. Today, we expect to be treated equally and fairly, as promised by an egalitarian Australia. And while Australians have a tendency to forget things, just like we often don’t know that we have a second verse in our national anthem, that verse reminds us that "For those who’ve come across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share. With courage let us all combine, to Advance Australia fair".

Chiang Lim is an elected member of the Chinese Australian Forum’s Management Committee (equivalent to the board). He is currently an elected Councillor for the City of Parramatta, was its Deputy Lord Mayor from 2009 to 2010. He is one of the Governance Observers for a $1.6b city redevelopment project, a board member of Westpool, the Asia Business Connection, and Chairman of ParraConnect (Parramatta's smart city initiative).