Penny Wong pays tribute to her father Francis Wong after his death
Penny Wong’s crushing grief as her father dies surrounded by his family as she pen a heartbreaking tribute to her migrant father
- Ms. Wong’s father passed away on Tuesday
Penny Wong has paid a sincere tribute to her father after he passed away on Tuesday.
The foreign minister announced the death of her father, Francis Wong Yit Shing, late Tuesday evening, saying he “passed away peacefully.”
“In his final days, he was surrounded by his loving family,” she said.
“We will all miss him.” We are grateful for his full life, for the strength of his love for us all, for the opportunities he gave us and for the values he instilled in us.
The foreign minister announced the death of her father, Francis Wong Yit Shing, late Tuesday evening, saying he “passed away peacefully.”
“We really appreciate the staff at Alfred who have shown us so much sympathy.
“We are comforted by the many friends and colleagues who have reached out to us with heartfelt messages of support.”
Ms Wong told last year how her father left his hometown of Sandakan, Malaysia, for Down Under after most of her grandmother’s family died in World War II.
She said Australia’s Colombo Plan Scholarship enabled her father to emigrate to Australia and study architecture at Adelaide University and said that opportunity defined his life.
Ms Wong told last year how her father left his hometown of Sandakan, Malaysia, for Down Under after most of her grandmother’s family died in World War II
“It meant he could move out of the poverty he experienced as a kid,” she said.
“It meant opening doors that would otherwise have been tightly shut.”
“That meant he could come to Australia – a very different Australia than what we know today.”
After meeting his Australian wife, Ms. Wong’s father moved back to work in Malaysia in Kota Kinabalu, where Ms. Wong was born.
In the past, Ms Wong has spoken openly about the racism she experienced when she first moved to Australia as a child in 1976.
Ms. Wong unreservedly praised Australia’s education system and credited the country’s university opportunities for her contribution to her family’s rise out of poverty.
“The value of this education never left him.” He always said to me, “They can take everything from you, but they can’t take your education from you,” she said.
Ms. Wong (right picture) with father Francis Wong (middle left picture) and family in Malaysia. Ms. Wong still has strong emotional ties to her father’s homeland