Culturally, Australia has more in common with the Philippines than with any other nation in Asia - middle class life styles and consumer tastes, Christianity, liberal education and the continuing influence of their colonial past, British on the one hand and Spanish on the other. Whilst Australia has not been physically occupied by the United States, both countries have experienced the colonising influence of America during the course of this century. And yet, even though 93,000 Philippine-born Filipinos are now resident in Australia, Australians know little about the Philippines beyond the sensationalism presented by the media - natural disasters, crime, acute poverty, insurgency problems, mail order brides and Imelda's shoes - let alone are aware of the links that have been forged between the two countries dating back to last century.

"Brown Americans of Asia" is uniquely different from the common Americanized, standardized or popularized books on Philippine history given its insightful scope; thus makes it worth reading and having. If only to learn about Australian-Philippine historical relationship then and now, the Aussies and their perception of us Filipinos, the book is worth buying and reading. To me, the book really offers more than that.

Our columnist, Jesse Jose, wrote in his latest piece that sometimes critics label him as a "little Brown American." Is it really an insult to be called "Brown American," even without the adjective "little?" According to anecdotal sources, the term "little Brown American" is neither derogatory or considered as racial slur and not originally intended to be such. Some people tend, however, to use the term to insult Americans of Filipino descent or Filipino citizens who work for American firms or who defend the policies of the United States. These detractors think "Brown American" means a lackey or a tool of the American Establishment.

The term, "Brown American," actually was coined by the first American civil governor in the Philippines, William Howard Taft. He supposedly called sometime in 1902 the Filipinos as his "brown brothers." Many historical accounts are wrong when they claim that Governor Taft used the adjective "little" in his statements.

The truth was that American and Filipino journalists added the adjective "little" as a pun (intended), for Mr. Taft weighed close to 300 pounds.

Remember that photograph that showed Governor Taft riding a carabao (a Filipino water buffalo). The governor was almost the size of the carabao. Mr. Taft's size was more-than half the normal weight of the average Filipino. Of course, everybody, including many Americans, were "little" as compared to Mr. Taft, who was not only big physically but soon became an American political giant. He became the 27th American President in 1909 and then chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. He is the only American to hold both positions in a lifetime.

Somehow the term "brother" became interchanged with "American." And often, Filipinos in the United States were first called "Brown Brothers" and then later as "Brown Americans," no matter what their height and weight were.