Amye Un hoped for a better life when she came to Australia more than 30 years ago, and since she migrated from Indonesia, she's built herself one. A well-known local celebrity in Darwin, Amye owns and operates Warung Ibu Amye, a famed laksa house in a town where laksa's a competitive business.
In September 2019, Amye posted a video on her restaurant's Facebook page, in which she lambasted local government for the poor state of a nature strip along Stuart Highway in front of her restaurant. The video went viral, racking up a quarter of a million views, generating local media coverage and in turn sparking government action on restoring the nature strip.
"I'm not fighting for myself, but I'm fighting for the city and the public," she said of the viral video and resulting action.
Amye's journey to Australia
Amye was born in a small village called Passabe on the island of Timor in 1959. She moved to the city of Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara with her parents two months after she was born.
At 16 she moved to live with her aunt and finish high school. Then in 1988, after a stint working in an immigration office in Kupang, she got her passport, went to Bali and managed to get an Australian visa. She secretly sold jewellery her mother had given her, bought plane tickets and migrated to Australia.
The woman now known by many of her customers as the "Laksa Queen" of Darwin said she was always determined to move to a country espousing 'freedom' as a core value even as a child.
In 1965 she saw firsthand - a failed coup in Indonesia's capital which had far-reaching consequences across the country - impact her own family.
Amye Un's Laksa House has been at Stuart Hwy, Darwin since 2007. Source: Facebook: Laksa House (Warung Ibu Amye)
Amye remembers that early one morning two soldiers passed by her family's house looking for someone. They showed the photo of the person-of-interest to her mother, who was outside preparing some firewood. Amye's mother said she hadn't seen them but the soldiers didn't believe her, and struck her hard in the head, leaving her bleeding on the ground.
"I have buried [the memory] in the mud... I do not want to repeat [the story] again because I feel sad," she said.
Building the laksa house
Now, Amye Un embraces the freedom she has found in Australia. In her early years in the country, she opened and operated a business in Brisbane while her son studied, but found the city too cold and moved to Darwin.
She was grateful in 2007 when she found a place to open a business in a space she rented from a kind-hearted Chinese family.
"When the business was successful, I paid rent. When it was not too crowded, they didn't ask me [to pay the rent] because I looked after their environment like my own home," she said.
With $3,500 given to her by her son, Amye Un opened a small shop - her famed laksa house - that has survived and thrived to this day.
The laksa served at her shop is seen by many as the best in Darwin - . Amye said her approach set her apart from the competition, though.
"My laksa is famous because the spices used are not from Australia. The classic spices come from Timor - It's what's authentic in my laksa that makes it famous.
"They sometimes call me Laksa Queen... Or other customers call me Sexy Amye," she said laughing.
Indeed, Amye's passion for her patch of Darwin went viral thanks to that video she posted on Facebook.
"[The video] is based on the fact that I live in Darwin, I want to build Darwin," she said. "Because at the front of the Laksa House I see that from Cyclone Marcus there are trees that have fallen but are not being replaced, and the grass is dead, not touched at all."
Soon after the video titled 'We Need Green' went viral, the local government responded by cleaning up rubbish and planting shrubs in the green belt across from the Laksa House. But this was not exactly what Amye had hoped for.
"I begged the ministers or those responsible for this matter - especially the NT government - to make it green from the airport all the way to the city of Darwin, not just the area in front of me."
From passion to politics?
In October 2019, Amye, said she was working on a second video with an infrastructure theme, as well as eyeing a run for Mayor in the future.
"I do not want to brag among my own community. I want to demonstrate the ability of us - migrants - especially Indonesian people who are here," Amye Un said.
She said she wanted Darwin to attract investors and visitors, and that it's sad many residents have complained about the city and moved to Queensland.
In fact, Amye said she might take a cue from Queensland senator Pauline Hanson, who made the leap from running a small fish and chip shop to the big stage of national politics.
It's a comparison that might surprise some, especially considering that in Hanson's maiden speech to parliament she warned Australia was in danger of "being swamped by Asians". Amye said she didn't like how "sharp Hanson's mouth is toward Asians" such as herself, but did relate to her small business background.
"Pauline Hanson is also a business woman with her fish and chips, but eventually she jumped high onto the parliamentary seat," she said. "Why can't I? I have the experience, I have the ability, I want to show it.
"I want to give my best to Australia."
