Hmmmm.
Its hard to place any context on a snapshot. What happened prior to this and for the whole game? Looking at the picture, its easy to assume English is not his first language because he looks Asian. He could well be NZ born so I think the whole 'language barrier' thing based on a picture is a bit of a red herring. That being said, if you take it as such that he is 'Asian', they are quite proper about being touched and their own personal space and that's just away from sport.
This is not England/Italy/Spain. Its NZ where contact with a referee (in any sport) is not common place at all. Look at the stuff that happened with Steve Walsh in Super 15 and that made 3 days of headlines! Regardless of the intentions, the intimation of what is happening, if you touch a referee, you face issues. What did Vukovic get for literally what amounted to a hi-5?
Zero sympathy.