Melbourne,
In yet another racial attack on Indian students in Australia, a 22-year-old Sikh youth was assaulted by a group of six teenagers, who tried to remove his turban and cut the hair.
Resham Singh, a student of hospitality course who came from Punjab six months ago, became the 20th victim within a month when he was attacked on Monday at Dandenong Station here.
Singh, who could not speak English properly, explained in Punjabi that "They first abused me and left and then again came back with more people and also got a pair of scissors along with them. They tried to remove my turban and cut my hair."
"My friends tried to save me," he said, adding "education agent back in India never gave me any information of how hard life will be here."
The attackers were later arrested by the police, Victoria police confirmed the arrest of the two persons but withheld the identity of the victim.
"The youths from Dandenong -- aged 13 and 15 years -- were charged with intentionally causing serious injury, recklessly causing serious injury and assault in company," a police spokesperson said.
|
The other side of student attacks
MELBOURNE
Even as tempers flay, students protest and the Indian government issues statements of condemnation, there are many Indians in Australia who believe that the issue must be examined in all its manifestations and that conclusions should not be drawn based on proximate events and emotions.
“While we sympathise with the victims of recent attacks and severely condemn those who perpetrated violence, we must also examine if there is any need for the students to change their approach or style of living,” they said.
Indian Newslink has reported extensively on the attacks on Indian students studying in Australia and the ensuing events.
Telugu Desam Party’s parliamentary leader Nama Nageswara Rao was on a fact-finding mission to Australia last week.
“I am upset that our students have faced violent attacks, with one of them hospitalised. While we have taken these attacks seriously at the highest level, we should also find out the reasons behind such incidents,” he told Indian Newslink from Melbourne (see related story in this section).
He said Indian students were law-abiding, hard working and honest but were seen as a threat by other ethnic groups, especially those unable to get jobs.
“Indian students are an asset to any employer, just like their compatriots. They work longer hours for less money and cause no trouble.
“It is also possible that our boys become soft targets with expensive cameras, i-Pods and electronic equipment that they carry with them,” he said.
According to a report, many Indian students have fanned out from inner-city student quarters to private colleges in the suburbs, and to places where rents are cheaper, and crime rates higher. This is true of Melbourne and Sydney, where Indians have, in recent years, displaced Lebanese as the biggest ethnic group in some suburbs.
Mr Rao said there was a need to brief students going overseas for studies and orient them to the realities of their destination countries.
The following letter is an example of the ‘The other side of student attacks,’ appearing in Indian and Australian newspapers. It was sent by Sydneysider S V Nagappa:
If Australia is such a bad country why do these students want to get PR and stay here? Yes, some Indians have been attacked but such incidents also happen to white Australians. Indians should first learn to talk softly over mobile phones in public, stop conversing in Hindi in public and work places and stop living in gangs and ghettos. As an Indian, I cannot accept such behaviour, leave alone Aussies. India should also clean up its racial situation first.”
|
