Plea for peace- Police visited a Sikh temple in Lynbrook on Sunday to discuss the recent attac

By Bridget Brady
INDIAN students living in Casey are not reporting violent attacks towards them to police, for fear of jeopardising the conditions of their visas.
Students and hundreds of other members of the Sikh community told police about their worries regarding the recent spate of attacks on them at a peaceful and constructive dialogue session at the Nanaksar Thath Isher Darbar Sikh Temple in Lynbrook on the weekend.
Superintendent Inghard Ehrenberg and members from the Multicultural Liaison Unit in Dandenong told the students on Sunday that it was wrong to think reporting a crime would harm the conditions of their VISA.
“Clearly if you are a victim of crime, you’ve done nothing wrong,” Supt Ehrenberg said.
But Supt Ehrenberg said he understood that some Indians did not trust police in their home country, and that this mindset was difficult to override when they came to Australia.
“We need to improve your confidence in us as police. We know that this is a belief that has been very hard to change, but it’s very important to try and change that.”
Members of the Sikh community said they had an in-built fear about police in India and it would take time to bridge the gap and transform their opinions to place their trust in Australian police.
Supt Ehrenberg said it was important members of the Indian community reported a crime as soon as it happened.
“Violence and assault against you is not OK. Rest assured when a report comes to police, they will be investigating. You need to be patient with us.”
Supt Ehrenberg said police should focus their energies on educating the Indian community about what police could do for them and what they could do to help themselves.
Student Aman Singh, 20, said he regularly got verbally abused at train stations.
Dandenong’s Garry Singh, 19, said most of the offenders were youths.
“Australian youth are not afraid of anything. Something should be done,” he said.
A man who attended the dialogue said he was threatened with a hammer and asked to hand over money in Doveton recently. He said there were “soft laws” for youths.
Another man said eggs were thrown at his Cranbourne house regularly, and shoes that were left outside the house for religious reasons had been burnt.
Hampton Park resident Navdeep Singh said he enjoyed living in Casey and understood police could not be everywhere.
“We are not blaming you. We want peace.” Casey mayor Geoff Ablett and Mayfield Ward councillor Amanda Stapledon were also guests at the temple on Sunday and offered their support to the Indian community.
“It disappoints me because it’s not what Australia is about,” Cr Ablett said.
Cr Stapledon said it was distressing to see a minority behaving in such an “un-Australian” way by targeting multicultural citizens.
“What is encouraging is to see the Indian community working side by side with a passionate team of police officers to empower its citizens and report violence and not to be intimidated.”
H.P.S. Luthera said the police had gained respect for accepting their invitation to visit their temple.
“Your presence is a buck-up,” he said.