Letters to the editor

brought to justice. And is given the life sentence, not just a couple of years. They have obviously gone out with the intention of taking a life, so we should take theirs. I tell people not to go out alone on the street or in public transport as these cowards are looking for easy targets. No matter what their nationality.

Believe me, on the whole we are not a racist country. We do have a problem with people who come here for a better life and still want to maintain the lifestyle of their country of origin. They come here for a better life, but then they criticize our way of life and start dictating to us. We have always accepted people from other countries and when they integrate with us, there have been no problems. I have friends who have come here from many different countries and they have taught me many new things. It has also expanded our world and made other countries seem not so far away.

The whole problem in Victoria is that our Police command is making our police too soft. And our politicians are not making strong laws to fit the crimes.

We are a very proud country and have fought in two World Wars to protect our democracy, and we treasure these men for what they have given us. We have never had a war fought on our own land, and never want it to happen here. This is a beautiful country but now I sometimes fear for it, the way things are going. I am afraid that until we get politicians with guts and a strong opposition, we may be doomed.

Lori Mclean VIC

Crime is crime

I agree (Time to call a spade a spade, by Preeti Jabbal on www.indianlink.com. au). Crime is crime. Violence is violence. If you dress up barbarity or callousness in culture or race or ‘us and them’, it can shield the underlying ugliness and truth of unacceptable criminal violence. In my mind there is no doubt that Australia has strong racist tendencies - but what country and culture doesn’t? Scratch the surface and discrimination is bubbling. The White Australia policy was the seed of South Africa’s Apartheid, and the racism in South Africa was a strong influence on Gandhiji. He wasn’t just interested in British injustice but also the injustice of the caste system, and everything else.

It is very easy to feel anger when the victim of violence, yet anger always looks for something to blame. More often than not anger drives an attitude that generalises - ie ‘they are all to blame’, whether that race, that culture, that family etc. A feeling of being discriminated against creates fertile ground for retaliatory discrimination.

So I agree with Preeti Jabbal – let’s not get distracted by the hype and lets concentrate on the unequivocal - crime should be prevented, and violence should be punished. And individually, we should examine ourselves and our own attitudes to others to determine whether we are practicing what we preach. India is home to some of the world’s greatest peace activists and most peaceful spiritual traditions, and it would be a shame to share only the blame and anger, and not the compassion and wisdom.

Phil

Leadership should condemn racist elements

Re your report (Time to call a spade a spade, Preeti Jabbal on www.indianlink. com.au), the pointers emerging from detective work, as also eyewitness testimonies, cumulatively, are enough to prove the case conclusively. Whatever the genesis of the problem as it prevails now, to remedy the latest ill afflicting the social fabric in Victoria, the first thing for them to do is to openly admit that there is a growing number of xenophobic crimes on the streets! For, unless the doctor/patient acknowledges or identifies the virus, how will they begin to find cures? No amount of empty statements and condemnation as these being only “opportunistic crimes” will actually ease the situation. Only after that can they launch an open diatribe and strong condemnation of racist elements from public platforms to isolate and shame them, and such a campaign must be backed by immediate suitable legislation and implementation of relevant law to preserve Melbourne as a truly multinational/ multiracial, model city. Unless this happens, you can be pretty sure that xenophobia will grow rapidly. Leadership within a society must visibly stand up and lead. All doesn’t seem to be well with Melbourne.

Where is the leadership? Has the recession left them so famished that they’ve even lost voice?

Saying things like ‘India should not preach because it is a casteist society’ etc. doesn’t help because it only serves to demonstrate prevalence of an attitude of impunity and stubbornness which are hallmarks of a society caught in a downward spiral and certainly not of one that may be categorized as evolved and forward looking.. Whereas the infamous caste system in India is slowly being nibbled away by development, creeping prosperity and spreading education, Australia seems to be on its own path of a new discovery! I think it is just a crisis of leadership. It seems like a place where voices of regression and a new apartheid seem to be coming out much stronger on the net; in blogs and comments!

Inder Mohan Singh Malhotra Nagpur, INDIA

Living up to our reputation

In 1973 my parents migrated from India to Australia. They came in the hope that they could bequeath to their children a future of promise and opportunity. They came with an idyllic vision of an egalitarian country, a welcoming country. And they came without fear for their safety. These are the very reasons why every year thousands of Indian students make that same trip to Australia. It is why they make that difficult decision to leave behind their friends and families and embrace the uncertainties of a foreign country. Yet today they are confronted with a very different Australia to that which welcomed my parents.

Today Indian students are two and a half times more at risk of attack than other Melbournians. Today Indian students are told that they are ‘soft targets’; that when they are assaulted, it is their failure to take adequate precautions for their safety that is to blame. Today Indian students are told that before they raise their voice in outrage they should first look at the problems that plague their own country. Where once Indian students were welcomed warmly, today they are reminded every day that they are no more than guests.

And so it is not the attacks on Indian students which are most disappointing. It is the absence of a human response. I do not believe for a minute that Australia is a racist country; a small minority of bigots should not be allowed to blacken the names of an entire nation. Nor do I welcome the overblown coverage provided by the Indian media. What I find disappointing and disturbing is the defensive mindset of the Australian community. Are we that arrogant that when a minority voices concerns about their safety we respond with the glib line that at least our country is not as bad as theirs? Are we so consumed with a false vision of perfection that we are not willing to even entertain the suggestion that the attacks may be racially motivated? And have we become so sapped of humanity that our economic interest in Indian students trumps basic empathy for their plight?

What the Indian students seek is genuine understanding and recognition, not patronising advice. What the Indian students seek is an acknowledgement that they are being unfairly targeted, that they are over-represented in crime statistics; not politically correct statements that dismiss the problem. And what Indian students seek above all is an Australia that lives up to its reputation as a welcoming country, a safe country. After all, that’s why they came here in the first place.

Bibhu Aggarwal Ryde NSW

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