Sam Wong was elected Chair of the Canberra Multicultural Community Forum at its recent inaugural annual general meeting. Mr Wong had headed an interim committee since the CMCF was founded 18 months ago.
The full committee, elected for a two-year term is: Chair, Sam Wong; Deputy Chairs, Diana Rahman, Kerry Markoulli; Secretary, Chin Wong; Treasurer and Membership Secretary, Carol Keil; Public Officer, Alfred Flask; Members, Graham Cooke, Patrick O’Flaherty, Stan Kowalski (on leave of absence, Alek Gandcark deputising), Mandy Scott, Victor Marillanca, Irene Forostenko.
Professional Advisers: Christopher Peters (business and government), Kanti Jinna (aging and age care), Mario Gonzalez (community liaison), John Kalokerinos (legal), John Gunn (youth affairs).
Mr Wong is currently in Beijing accompanying the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, John Hargreaves. The Minister told the Forum’s annual meeting that they were going at the invitation of the Chinese Government who wished to learn more about the way Canberra operated as a successful multicultural society.
“This is a sensational recognition of the Canberra community and I will be proud to talk to the Chinese Government about it and anyone else who wants to listen,” he said.