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Showing posts with label Julia Gillard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julia Gillard. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Beware of Aussie's “Asian dogs and pussies” attacking Chinese and Indian!

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 29:  A commuter read...
SYDNEY—Australia’s Mandarin-speaking ex-leader Kevin Rudd on Tuesday weighed into the case of two Chinese students who were burned and beaten in Sydney, sparking a media storm in their homeland, reports said.

Police confirmed that a 29-year-old man “suffered a fractured cheekbone and nose… as well as burns from a lit cigarette” during a robbery by six youths on a train in southern Sydney on Monday.

“A second male victim also suffered burns to the face during the alleged robbery,” police said in a statement.

One of the victims was identified as a Chinese blogger named Xuan studying for a masters degree in Sydney, who posted about the graphic attack on the microblogging site Sina Weibo.

“A gang of hooligans attacked us. Our noses are fractured and our bodies are covered in blood,” wrote Xuan, according to a translation in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

“My friend’s cheekbone was crushed. They attacked us with glass and burnt us with lit cigarettes. My face is burnt and totally disfigured. Worst of all, I really hated their racist comments.”

Xuan claimed the group taunted them as “Asian dogs and pussies” and when his friend tried to wipe the blood from his nose “a teenaged girl stuffed my friend’s mouth with her tampon removed from her pants.”

There were many passengers and staff on the train, he added, but nobody intervened to help and another woman targeted by the gang even encouraged them to rob Xuan and his friend saying “they are Asian and they have got money.”

Xuan’s post about the attack was reposted on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, more than 10,000 times according to the Herald, and Australia’s ex-PM and former foreign minister Kevin Rudd also spoke up on the site.

Weibo newcomer Rudd wrote that he would “try to approach the police and department of education” about the incident, the Herald said.

Australia has gained an unwelcome reputation for violence against international students in recent years, with a string of attacks involving Indian students in southern Melbourne triggering diplomatic tensions.

There was intense publicity in India about the assaults, which included the stabbing murder of accounting graduate for his mobile phone, and Canberra conceded that some of the violence was racially motivated. - AFP

'This city is so dangerous': outrage in China over Sydney train assault 

Peter Cai
Will try to approach police ... a screen grab of Kevin Rudd's message on Weibo. 

A terrifying gang assault on Sydney train passengers has left two international students seriously injured and caused a media storm in China.

The alleged robbery, including racist taunts, drew a social media pledge from former foreign affairs minister Kevin Rudd and led to emergency talks at Sydney's Chinese consulate general.

Police said six people, aged 14 to 18, robbed passengers on a train between Central and Rockdale about 12.30am yesterday.

A picture from Xuan's blog. A picture from Xuan's blog. >>

Officers were called to Rockdale station about 15 minutes later, where they arrested three men, two aged 18 and one 19, a 14-year-old boy and two girls, aged 16 and 17.

They were all charged with a number of robbery and assault offences.

Yesterday's attack came just days after two safety warnings from the Chinese embassy in Canberra for citizens travelling in Australia. Many Chinese students studying in Australia have expressed their fear over growing violence directed against them.

One of the victims of the attack, known as Xuan, suffered from a fractured nose and burns from a lit cigarette.

The international student from China, seeking a master's degree at the University of Technology, Sydney, was travelling with a friend from Central to Rockdale when the attack happened.

A translation from Xuan's blog on the Chinese social media site Weibo reads: “I really wish all of this is just a nightmare. However, the smell of blood in my mouth and body pains reminds me that this city is so dangerous.

“A gang of hooligans attacked us. Our noses are fractured and our bodies are covered in blood. My friend's cheekbone was crushed. They attacked us with glass and burnt us with lit cigarettes. My face is burnt and totally disfigured! Worst of all, I really hated their racist comments.

“They were calling us Asian dogs and pussies while they were beating us. When my friend tried to wipe blood from his nose, a teenaged girl stuffed my friend's mouth with her tampon removed from her pants.”

Another woman passenger, who was also targeted by the thieves, allegedly told the attackers to “rob them, they are Asian and they have got money”.

Xuan and his friend were treated at St George Hospital in Sydney's south-west.

He said he would now take leave from study and return to China.

The incident has caused outrage in the Chinese student community across the country and Xuan's initial post was re-tweeted more than 10,000 times. Thousands of Chinese students have expressed their disgust online.

The incident has made headlines acrosss China, including on the popular news sites Sina News and the English language Shanghai Daily.

Chinese consular officials have also publicly expressed their support for the students. Fairfax Media understands that officials met at the Consulate General in Sydney this morning to discuss the incident.

Mr Rudd, a new Weibo user, told one of his online followers, writing in Chinese, that he “will try to approach the police and department of education"on behalf of the victims.

This website has sought comment from Mr Rudd's office.

One Sydney-based international student said: "Australia is known for its tolerance and multi-culturalism. Yet there is still a tiny minority who discriminate against the international students, especially the younger people."

"You can accept people with different sexual orientations. But why can't you accept people from different cultural backgrounds?"

Xuan also expressed his anger and disappointment at the lack of help from train staff and other passengers.

“Though there were no police on the train, there were many other people and train staff. It even stopped once at Wolli Creek, but nobody helped us!”

Peter Cai is The Age's Asian Affairs Reporter

Monday, July 25, 2011

Australia and Malaysia sign 'refugee' deal






Human Rights Watch slams agreement to send 800 asylum seekers in Australia to Malaysia in exchange for 4,000 refugees. 
Demonstratrs protest against Malaysia's treatment of refugees and asylum seekers [Reuters]

Australia and Malaysia have signed a deal to send 800 asylum seekers in Australia to Malaysia in exchange for the resettlement of 4,000 refugees.

The 4,000 refugees are to be resettled in Australia over a four year period, with that country bearing the cost of their tranfer and settlement.

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's interior minister, and Chris Bowen, Australia's immigration minister, formally signed the deal at a Kuala Lumpur hotel on Monday.

The 800 asylum seekers sent to Malaysia will be placed in a "holding centre" for six week before being allowed into the community, Hussein said.

From midnight on Monday, the next 800 asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat will not be processed there, but will be transferred to Malaysia, Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister said.

The government said they will receive no preferential treatment in the processing of their claims or arrangements for resettlement.



'Dumping ground'

Ahead of the signing, Brendan O'Connor, Australian's interior minister, said the deal represents "an historic and innovative approach" to undermining the people-smugglers' business model.

"We want to treat people fairly," he told ABC Television, but refused to confirm a report that those shipped to Malaysia would be allowed to work.

However, the deal has drawn criticism because Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN convention on refugees.

"Australia is using Malaysia as a dumping ground for boat people it does not want and in the process walking away from its commitments to follow the 1951 Refugees Convention," Phil Robertson, the deputy director at the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said.

"Human Rights Watch has publicly called on UNHCR to not endorse this agreement because this is a deal that would allow Australia, a country that has signed the Refugee Convention, to devolve its obligations to another country that has not signed the Refugee Convention.

"This would set the worst type of precedent and we’re concerned it could start a wider erosion of protection for refugees throughout the Asia-Pacific region."

The UNHCR is not a signatory to the agreement, however appreciates that both governments consulted with the agency.

"The UNHCR’s preference has always been an Arrangement which would enable all asylum-seekers arriving by boat into Australian territory to be processed in Australia. This would be consistent with general practice," the agency said in a statement.

"The critical test of this Arrangement will now be in its implementation both in Australia and Malaysia, particularly the protection and vulnerability assessment procedures under which asylum seekers will be assessed in Australia prior to any transfer taking place."

Protests against agreement

In Malaysia, demonstrators gather outside the signing ceremony to protest against the country's treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.

One demonstrator holds up a placard that reads, "Malaysia's immigration laws still don't recognise 'refugees' and 'asylum seekers' - where's the guarantee for protection?"

The Australian government, which has a policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers until their claim for refugee status is resolved, is facing rising tensions in some of its detention centres over the processing of claims.

The migrants are held for months at Christmas Island detention centre, about 1,500 miles from the Australian mainland, and in other detention facilities.

About 200 people protested against the impending agreement outside Sydney's Villawood immigration detention centre on Sunday.

The immigration department said about 60 inmates were taking part in a peaceful protest at the Scherger detention centre in Queensland, with about 50 of these engaged in voluntary starvation.

 Source:
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