Look poor to avoid attack: Oz top cop to Indians

Updated on Sunday, February 07, 2010, 11:48 IST Tags:Indian students, Australia racism, Simon Overland
Melbourne: Indian students living in Australia have slammed Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland’s advice that they should not work as taxi drivers and should “look as poor as you can” to avoid being assaulted.


Overland had made the comments at an international students’ safety forum attended by about 150 people in the city on Saturday.

“Don’t display your iPods, don’t display your valuable watch, don’t display your valuable jewellery. Try to look as poor as you can,” Overland said before adding that foreign students should try to avoid living in Melbourne’s poorer suburbs where crime rates are higher.

However, Federation of Indian Students of Australia secretary Gautam Gupta blasted the advice, saying that Indians should not have to look “poor” to feel safe.

“What is he saying? Indians don’t have the right to be rich? And if they look rich, do they maybe have to get bashed? On one hand, everyone should look poor. On the other, don’t live in poor areas. I don’t understand,” The Age quoted Gupta, as saying.

He further said that taxi drivers had a right to feel safe no matter what their nationality is.

“It’s a workplace. Every workplace should be safe. I think it's a ridiculous idea. It is blaming the worker. It is blaming the victim,” Gupta said.

Australia not a racist country: Lee

Though the Indian media has gone to town describing Australia as a country where racism, especially against the Asian minority thrives, the continent’s pin-up boy – Brett Lee – has taken the initiative in saying this is not the case.

Lee is virtually playing the ambassador's role for Australia. He returned from the subcontinent last week concerned at the Indian media's perception of Australian society.

"I've been trying to explain to the Indian media that we're not a racist country," The Daily Telegraph quoted him, as saying.

"The general chit-chat around the Indian public is fine, they love Australians coming to their country, but most of the problems seem to be driven through the Indian media. I tried to make it very clear over there that Australian people and our society, which is so multi-cultural, welcome Indian people with open arms. What has happened is terrible, no matter who's at fault," he said.

ANI


It is said that the first Australian immigrants were criminals deported from England. So now Indians are being advised to look as poor as they can so that the latent criminal tendencies of the present day generation of the original criminals are not aroused. Talk of treating the symptoms!

http://www.zeenews.com/news602226.html