Comments on: Melbourne: Indian student hurt in racist gang attack

By: Timbo

Timbo — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:33:57 +0000

Yes Ger – I could forgive the Indian press for sensationalism (they have to sell papers etc.) and even for getting carried away a little, but it was far more sinister than that. They lied about things, and became racist themselves. For example, there were a few murders of indians in Australi around that time. They would run a headline about an Indian having been murdered, and suggest that it was a hate crime – then soon afterwards the police here would arrest an Asian, because it was some kind of money or family dispute, but the Indian press did not report that afterwards. This was extremely malicious of them against Australians I think. Also many racist comments appeared in the Indian press, making negatve generalizations about Australians. Important facts, which indicated that racism might not have been the core issue, always seemed not to get mentioned. Serious reportage and research, such as “is an indian safer at home or in australia” or “is an australian more at risk here, than an Indian there” were never even attempted. And the internet was awash with comments from Indians saying “we should retaliate against Australians”. What the Indian press and TV did was very ugly.

By: Ger

Ger — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:27:47 +0000

As an indian you are LESS likley then an Australian to be assulted here but slightly more likley to to be robbed. ie you are much safer in Australia then in India. I thought htis was odd at the time and tried to work it out in the post above but now I see the media and politicians saying the same thing on TV. It is the (Australian) medias fault – they love the semi hysterical response they get every time they accuse the general population of being racist – so they do it as frequently as they can and hope some other country picks it up and makes it even bigger. They where so successful this time that Australia and India might need to rethink their relationship. We (Australians) fit so many stereotypes for the rest of the world- sigh – but Indian presses reation was over the top. An apology from India would be good.

By: VIVEK

VIVEK — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:32:33 +0000

guys.. i was thinking to study in melbourne .. but by reading ur comments .. i really think i land up no were …..i dont knw wat to do .. knw i am confused wat to do ..i have heard very good things abut australia in every aspect leaving education just becoz of racism ….people back up their country weither it be gud or not ..just becoz of one fish the whole ponds get dirty … it really nt the fault of the inocent people…..can any body sugest me ..weither i should opt to go to australia or not……….

By: South Asia Masala » CHOGM: our complex relationship with India

South Asia Masala » CHOGM: our complex relationship with India — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:23:13 +0000

[...] Media reporting of concerns of racism towards Indian students has also done little to perpetuate positive views from both countries. [...]

By: sera

sera — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:18:09 +0000

yeah! I agree this was a shameful incident.What cause indian media to sensationalise the news.The government should take steps for peoples safety ,to improve Indias status

By: Ravi

Ravi — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:01:39 +0000

Hi Timbo
Whatever u said,as a true indian i agreed.Everyone is pin pointin others.Crime is everywhere around the world.So we should fight with crime ,not with each other.Those people whor r attackin someone for no reasons, they should be punished and also we hate indian media too.They make their own perception to increase TRP .I have same respect for australia and india.

By: Timbo

Timbo — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:28:52 +0000

In Sydney the Indians complained about being picked on by Lebanese (nothing to do with Aussies) – and in Melbourne, it seems that many of the attckers were from a variety of racial backgrounds — but of course the paranoid & racist Indian media ignore all of that so they can stoke up hatred against white people. My favourite quote from the Times of India:

“There is a lot of jeolousy towards Indians because they acquire the best jobs and show a commitment to work and family that Australians rarely show” — So, Indian people are superior to us it seems… smells like racism to me. As for the best jobs, most Indians in Sydney seem to work as cab drivers, in small shops and in Petrol stations – and good on them, somebody has to – but the “best jobs” ?????
But I am just a jelous white guy with no commitment to anything – so what do I know!

Loads of Australians have been murdered in India – about 1 a year, almost an entire family in 1999,
some poor girl in 2008:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/02/05/1202090368574.html
Dawn Emilie Griggs, raped and murdered in 2004, some guy beaten to death in Goa in 2008 – and that’s only ones that I know of, there’s also been rapes:
http://expressbuzz.com/States/Karnataka/australian-tourist-raped-near-gokarna/47928.html
If anybody actually bothered to do a study, I am sure they would find that Australians are at greater risk in India than visa-versa – but nobody bothers, because it’s all media hype in India.

Indians are really sensitive about “racism” and yet they are blind to it amongst themselves.

Many Indians are racist too. Lets face it:

In Bollywood movies all foreigners (African, white or Chinese) are always shown as crooks, or with loose morals, or as facists, or drunks, or plain stupid. One muscular African actor lives full time in Bombay – the only parts he gets are those of criminals! I had a couple of roles in Indian movies and TV – but I stopped doing it when I began to think about what I was being asked to portray as a foreigner.

What about the caste system?

There is systematic mistreatment of tourists (other races pay more to see all historic attractions, whereas anybody that looks Indian pays next to nothing). Few tourists come back from India without stories about being mistreated – ask any female traveler there about the groping that goes on!

99% of Indian families living outside India would go nuts if a memeber of their family were to marry outside their racial group.

Oriental-looking students (of non Indian appearnace) from the fringes of India, states like Manipur, Nagaland, who go to the big cities to study, often report being severely bullied.

Really, I think many Indians should stop being so “precious” and paranoid, not to mention hypocritical.

I like India by the way and have Indian friends — but can’t we just be honest with each other???

By: onetouchpal

onetouchpal — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:13:03 +0000

everyone cheerup,live ur life and lets not decide which country/race is better rather lets decide which human is better.
we should learn how to save ourself from these attacks whether racial/opportunistic.rather than waiting for ensue and commenting on it.

By: singh

singh — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:41:42 +0000

australia is a wonderful country n i respect n love dis country but on the other i bcom sad when indian r attacked for no reason n i think of attacking back n im sure u(australians) vil soon c the other face of hard workin indians as v all know australians r not brave as it has been proved in sydney riots so jus wait for future

By: Ger

Ger — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:29:10 +0000

I am not to sure about this. I thought the racism thing could be solved by looking at attacks on the students and the 1.2% of australians who are geneticly indian and the remainder of the population who are not indians.

I have come up so far with an expected 6.6 murders of indian students per year to match the australian average. I am not sure there have even been 6.6 murders – calculations below

Expected Homicide Rate of Indian Students
An expected homicide rate for the Indian student population would be a maximum of 6.6 Males 20-30 if no persecution of Indian students was occurring.

General population Australia 1.2 murders per 100000(2008) – estimated 2009 1.3 per 100,000.www.abs.gov.au
This is approximately half the murder rate per 100,000 of India http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
Males 15-30 make up 25% of murder victims in Australia and 8% of the population (2008) – estimated murder rate 4.4 per 100,000 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/3235.0~2008~Main+Features~Main+Features?OpenDocument#PARALINK6

Expected murder rate of Male Indian students aged 20-30 would be = 4.4 * .75 = 3.3 killed per year (assuming males 20-30 make up 75% of the student population or 75,000)

the above figures allow for no influencing factors. Cities / Poor neighborhoods / Working and traveling late at night would be influencing factors. Assume this doubles the risk of murder then at a maximum you would still only expect 6.6 Male 20-30 year old Indian students to be murdered per year.

There xx Indian students 20-30 murdered in Australia in 2009?