Don't brand Australia racist, give time to act, say Indians

Natasha Chaku

Melbourne, May 31 (PTI) As Australian authorities face
flak over a series of attacks on Indian students here, leading
members of the community Sunday spoke out against branding the
country as "racist" and said the government should be given
some time to resolve the problem.

At the same time, they expressed their deep concern over
the security issues of Indian students.

Insisting that Australia was not a "racist" country and
all attacks were not racist in nature, Sydney-based
cardiologist Yadu Singh said "We believe that this is not the
correct picture of the unfortunate events."

"Most of the attacks are what we call 'opportunistic
attacks' and due to the impression by the criminal elements
about our students being the easy target for various reasons,"
Singh said.

Indian-origin CEO of leading company Primus, Ravi Bhatia,
who took part in a peace rally here, said "Australia is a very
open and tolerant society. It is a fun-loving country.

"There are many examples of highly successful members in
the Indian community. Just like any other society, there are
small minority of miscreants and malcontents," he said.

"Voice of Indian students have been heard at the highest
level of the country. I would request them to give government
time to address grievances," Bhatia said.

The students have gained enough attention and goodwill of
Australian society and now they should give time to the
institutions to come up with a solution, Bhatia said adding,
otherwise they will lose what they have gained.

In the backdrop of outrage over racist attacks here,
community members are concerned that no wrong message should
be sent while registering protests.

"The Indian community is well-settled in Australia and we
have spoken with a large number of them. Some of them have
been here for more than 25 years. We do not feel that we are
facing a racism problem in Australia," Singh said.

"No doubt, our students have several significant issues
and these issues have been raised with government and police
authorities here. We are confident that these would be acted
upon seriously. It must be accepted that Australia risks more
than 15 billion dollars in business if the students' issues
are not given due importance soon," he said.

T J Rao, former consul general for India, said "I have
never experienced any racist attacks here in last 40 years.
The most vital issue is security of our students and that is
what we are working on with Australian authorities."

Singh said there were issues that needed urgent attention
including safety and security.

"Indian students in Australia are not reporting the
incidents for various reasons. Police must increase its
visibility and start undercover patrolling. Proactive measures
need to be taken rather than the reactive ones. This is a work
in progress," he said. PTI NC
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