Consultations Homepage || Meeting Notes: 14 November 2003
Consultation with members of the Interfaith Network of the City of Greater Dandenong, Dandenong, 14 November 2003
The meeting was organised by Ms Margaret Mooney of the Network and facilitated by Omeima Sukkarieh, HREOC (notes). 6 invited participants attended.
The Dandenong Interfaith Network
Isma was introduced to the Network by a former member, Father Lindsay Fawlkner, now living in Alice Springs who told us at the consultation there on 5 June 2003:
"Dandenong in Victoria is the most multicultural city in Australia. There are people from 148 different origins and countries of birth who live together in harmony. The Interfaith Network there comprises of 50 or 60 religious leaders including an Imam from Bosnia Herzegovina and a Serbian Orthodox priest. This interfaith network is a sign of how we, as faith leaders, can say to the community, discrimination is an evil.
"The other thing about the interfaith network in Dandenong is that they go to the schools. This interfaith network has established an education program and every year, year after year, there's all sorts of programs going on in that community that are overcoming racial and religious discrimination of all kinds."
In Dandenong, participants expanded on the way the Network operates.
"It's a partnership [initiated 15 years ago] between the City of Greater Dandenong and the various faith groups here within the City of Greater Dandenong and also surrounding area. The partnership itself entails basically certain commitments from these representatives from the different faiths and that commitment is trying to understand each of our diversity and trying to develop better understanding of what variations are. We are all volunteers in the network. The objective is to bring peace and harmony. With that objective we meet once a month for two hours at the City of Greater Dandenong Council offices most of the time. Nearly 20 + representatives always attend. The City of Greater Dandenong also expects the different faiths to provide the prayers on every one of their fortnightly council meetings and various faiths go and participate and initiate the first sittings of that particular evening with the faith prayer. It could be in Arabic, English or the native language whatever it is.
"We also do the education program. We expect participation from the various schools and these education programs have got certain objectives. One of the objectives is to let the teachers know a little more about the faith groups and faith contributions, especially the teachers who are involved in the social studies and the religious studies. For them they organise tours of local places of worship. We also invite them to participate in the annual gathering [held on the third Wednesday of October].
"The important thing is that the leaders should then take all that they learn back to their own communities. So it is just not for the leaders, but it is the leaders then who influence their own communities. When the annual gathering is there the faith leaders need to bring their communities along so they can all rub shoulders."
The Network adopts a UN-related theme each year (2003 is the year of fresh water) and covers it with a 'faith background'.
"School children are asked to write essay and we also make it more attractive by making it a competition and prizes are given. And also art work as well. Then each child presents a kind of a cultural program with a theme. This year nearly 500 students participated."
"We have a sacred space in Dandenong public hospital which we in fact were instrumental in creating out of a Christian Chapel into a multi faith prayer space. Anybody can call into it. It is a public space. It is for staff and patients and for family and visitors and for occasions where there is a space needed for prayer and for counselling in fact as well."
Primarily in order to qualify for government and other grants, the Network was incorporated recently.
City Council support in a partnership capacity has been critical to the Network's success. Participants advised, "The whole council is very supportive"; "They provide a budget to it as well"; "We have a convenor from council" and "They provide us with our secretarial assistance".
The City Council and Interfaith Network also make joint media statements from time to time: "We use a council letterhead and it goes through the Mayor before release."
"Last year I think we made a common statement about the Iraq war. We sent a letter to the Prime Minister."
Interfaith Network Strategies
"September 11 we really did not do a huge amount. We were already having a prayer for peace. The date was set in the sacred space. We already had a prayer meeting in the diary and it was soon after September 11. So we focused on that prayer time in that sacred space."
"There was a Muslim staff member [at the Ethnic Communities Council of the South East] who organised a regional statement and gave profile to Muslim people from the area here. And invited different groups to come. Muslim organisations were there; Members of Parliament were there and so was the local state member of Parliament and the mayor and members of the Interfaith Network. So we sort of got together and discussed the issue. Speeches were made and Parliament made a statement more or less for peace and that was endorsed."
"Yes and we [the Interfaith] heard about it happening and we said we want to be part of that as well. So together we made a statement and it got really good press."
"Our meeting tends to promote things that build up the community. The ongoing positive educational, community relations, acceptance and tolerance. We should be aware and we should do what we can in situations of prejudice and discrimination, but we try to be an ongoing course for good rather than to react to the negative. And we would like to stand beside the Muslims and be more proactive on their behalf but at times we are lacking in connection with the community. They are busy in their own situations. The more involved they get the more difficult they are to get to meetings. Meetings might not always be the best way. If the Muslim community could come more consistently."
In addition to finding ways to involve the Muslim communities and indeed grassroots members of all faith communities, participants identified the need for more promotion for the network and its activities as a current need, although "even with the limited resources they are doing a good job".
The schools initiative, which includes school tours to places of worship and the development of a resource learning kit on different faiths for teachers, is well known and "that is what people think should be a focus". Participants felt this initiative could be expanded and it would benefit more schools to be involved.
"It depends upon the principal. There are a couple of school teachers actually who really took the initiative and got enthusiastic."
The Interfaith Network is also trying to produce a video "that will be a historical perspective of City of Greater Dandenong. It will reflect the seven main faith groups, which actually have been part of our interfaith group: Baha'i, Buddhism, Sikh, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. It will be great as an educational video."
The Network is also considered to be "approachable and available" and members are "often invited by other groups to speak at their forums or make presentations about the interfaith and different faiths" and have done so on several occasions. However, the response has varied.
"Generally talking in any community activity you will find some people they would like to get involved and others so negative they are not even prepared to listen. And when you ask them about anything - not just the Interfaith - they have never heard about anything because they never get involved."
"The general [response] from the community is that you speak to someone and you find that person is well aware of what is happening on the local level. They are prepared to read the local papers; they are prepared to get involved in any local activities, and some people have not learned about that particular issue and don't read the local paper and throw it straight in the rubbish bin. They are not even interested to read the local paper."
This comment led to discussion about the use of the media. The members all believe that establishing a good relationship with both mainstream and local ethnic media is important. However, members do acknowledge that although they do have successful relationships with some local journalists, relationships with others do not exist. With the exception of the Indian paper, relationships with other ethnic media have not been strong for many reasons. Arabic newspapers for example are not easily accessible in the Dandenong area and "the Interfaith Network is not involved directly with the Arabic community. Muslims are on the Interfaith but they are not from Arabic background."
"In the communities we use [local media] very well. We use about four or five different newspapers. And very good circulation is distributed free of cost. I think the main source of information to the wider community or the local community is the local main media. But as I said we need the resources more for an interstate newsletter."
The importance of networking was also discussed. Members share information about various initiatives they are involved in outside the Interfaith Network. The Victorian Council of Churches for example has developed a set of guidelines for various faith groups to bear in mind when planning events and to do so with respect and sensitivity to other faith groups.
"From here we network with groups we're involved in. So, I am on the Victorian Council of Churches, which is a significant group. I am on the Living Faiths Community and Dialogue Commission of the Victorian Council of Churches, which is currently putting out guidelines for multi-faith gatherings and going to distribute this across communities. We have run it past some of the other faiths as well so that we are offering these guidelines for multi-faith gatherings to our own member churches and we don't pretend that some of our member churches don't agree with the network. Some of them do and some don't. Some like interfaith and some don't like interfaith dialogue. But we offer it to our own member churches and to all people of good will and with respect to people of other faith groups. I also have links with a group called Catholic Interfaith Committee, which is a branch of the Melbourne Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission. It is the Catholic Diocesan working group and we organise events during the year which are involved in multi faith events in various area. The Catholic Education Office invited a member of the Network (Hindu) to give a presentation on occasion."
The members believe that one of the strengths of the networks is their ability to conduct their activities and "get the message across" despite their limited resources, so "even though we have limited ourselves, we are called upon because we are well known and we have got a bit of a database ourselves so that we know each other well and have established great networks with others".
The Equal Opportunity Commission of Victoria (EOCV) Arabic-speaking Community Education Project
One participant mentioned the EOCV Arabic-speaking community education project which involved the employment of an Arabic-speaking worker to inform the Arabic-speaking community about Victoria's new Racial and Religious Tolerance Act in 2002. It was a six month project.
"I remember she distributed magnets and fliers and she gave a really good information on how [the law] was and how like if anybody needed anything they could call the EOCV. The purpose of [her] position at that time was to go out and do advocacy work, so almost like training. So, [she] will train [me] in the complaints process and the law and then hopefully [I] will go out and tell the community about it. Like train-the-trainer."
Another recalled attending one of the training sessions.
"I just remember hearing about it many times. It was on the radio, the Islamic Voices radio. A lot of people are discriminated against but don't know how to follow it up. We were training and at the very beginning [the trainer] said that because discrimination is when you feel, t does not matter what the person does it is when you feel that you have been done wrong by, so just showing the different definitions of discrimination and things like that helped, so that people were more aware about things like that and did something about it. The community still has a reluctance to complain, but I believe that after that educational process it did help a lot."
Reporting discrimination and the law
Other members questioned why the EOCV education campaign was targeted at Arabs and Muslims only. They themselves had only minimal knowledge of the new legislation. The Sikh member present was unaware that Sikhs are protected by the federal Racial Discrimination Act. The Hindu member was surprised to learn that the Racial Discrimination Act does not cover Hindus, but was glad to know the new state legislation did.
One network member felt that the law provides better protection than in the past.
"Years ago when the first Gulf War started the government did do some things and some laws came out to protect against these types of discrimination [felt by the community] and from what I understand since the Gulf War until now it has been taken out bit by bit. So a lot of the Muslims ... feel that before the government was backing us up but now it is not. One example is girls not being allowed to wear their hijab in State schools ...they still wear it but there is no law to support these girls. This is one of the things that a lot of the Muslims feel is of a concern."
The Sikh member recalled an incident at his son's school regarding his school uniform and his religious turban.
"We [the Sikhs] are a very visible minority because of the way we are dressed. Quite often we get parents [complaining about] my son and the school teacher asks him to remove it. Your uniform says you must not have it [referring to his bracelet, i.e. the 'kara']. It is not that. It is part of an article of faith. They request a letter be written to the school to say that it is an article of faith. We attend to this because it quite often happens. I have personally written letters for parents. We need to make a presentation to the school."
Experiences of discrimination and vilification
One participant said the period after September 11"was frightening, and people couldn't even leave their houses because of the level of discrimination".
Experiences at the airport
The Sikh community member described his community's experience, in particular after September 11.
"Sometimes people will say something. It is quite common. Mainly Arabs and Muslims wear the [Islamic dress] back in their own countries. They don't wear it here. People think Sikhs are Arab people or Muslim people. So there is some discrimination directed towards them. Like at airports. Personally when I travel overseas the security officer comes to me and asks for my passport. They want to have a double check.
" ...I remember about two years or more ago I lived overseas for a year at that time. I was coming back so I had a lot of luggage and my mum was with me to help me through the stresses of moving from one city to another and all my luggage went through the x-ray and opened up and searched and searched to the extent it was getting extreme. A lot of people of course go through that and I would consider that part of racism."
Experience at the hospital
One participant painfully described in great detail her distressing experience with hospital staff while her father was dying of cancer and spoke of the impact that had on her family. The participant felt that the doctors lacked cultural and religious sensitivity.
"My father passed away a couple of weeks ago and he was [in hospital] at the time. He was diagnosed with cancer only about 25 days before he died ...and someone said [about him] 'these are the people that are written off and they are just waiting to die'. One of the things in Islam is that before someone dies there are prayers that they need to hear. In any religion, any human, you would want to communicate with your loved one before they go. One of the things [the doctors] do is they sedate them, so [my father] was under morphine because of the extreme pain, but also the extra sedation that was being given through the day. So when I realised I told them 'I don't want you to be sedating him. He is not in pain.' One of the things was they said 'We have to sedate him because part of this illness is that they become aggressive so they have to sedate them'.
" Of course the pain of losing someone and also all of this also having to fight with the doctors to tell them. I told them that according to Islamic tradition we don't sedate people before they die. I was fighting with them and they're fighting with me back to say 'We are under oath and we have to do what is right by our patient'. But I was trying to get across to them that I teach Islam so I know what I am talking about and that this is how we do it in Islam. And I told them 'I would like you to respect it'. It didn't happen. I just kept fighting with the doctors to take the sedation off ...When I said to [the doctor] that there was a Professor I was communicating with in Syria and that I would like you to speak to this doctor so that you would understand the same philosophy, she said to me 'Look, if he is not a doctor of western medicine I am not talking to him'. I am telling her that he is a Professor. I said to her 'Am I going to pass you onto a witch doctor. Or is this magical?' Can you understand that your heart is already being torn out, but the difficulty that me and my family had to go through was beyond anything I had to go through in my life?
"As soon as they found out he has only got a short time [to live] they said if we would like them to organise Imam, they would. It was clear to me that they understood some of the things and I know a friend of mine who is a cross cultural trainer tells me that things have been done through the hospital, through schools ...so for them to be so ignorant when I am getting information across ...and if I had not noticed I would not have known. My mother was going into breakdown. She broke down more than one time. We had our Imam coming all the time ... and what was being said to me [by the doctors] was 'look basically what you are doing is cruel. Don't prolong his life or suffering. Put him to sleep and let him sleep.' They want me to let him sleep through this most important time of his life. This was really excruciating.
"This is the first time I have had to deal with hospitals. We have never had this problem. Nobody that I know of who has died has had this problem. Nobody has gone through this. I am realising now it was only through chance to realise this was happening. They knew about Judaism and that if someone dies straight away they have to call someone and no-one is allowed to come in and all that kind of stuff. When I was saying to them 'please leave the room' it was taken as an offence. When my dad died, I asked them to leave but it was taken as an offence and that you are cruel. There needs to be an education program. I vowed to myself I would get out and educate. This is euthanasia. You have to respect people's beliefs. This is legal euthanasia. I wasn't going to accept it. It was religiously wrong."
The participant was reassured of the support the Interfaith Network would give her and believed that the push for education for hospital staff should be a community effort not an individual one. She was not aware of the complaints mechanisms in place, with the exception of the EOCV. However, after the grieving process she intends to make a formal complaint.
Another participant talked about his experience which happened after the 'fridge magnet campaign' of travelling through an electricity plant to get to the mosque he attends every Fridays about 100 kms from Dandenong.
"I have to pass through the electricity plant. So someone complained about me but that is the rule. I have to pass through it to get [to the mosque]. The issue came to my home and I have a property in the area also. The man that questioned me was very embarrassed. They said that I was going around the building and was a suspicious character. They must have seen my beard but I don't wear a turban or [sunna hat]. I think maybe [it happened] the beginning of this year when they were putting adds on the TV saying that if something suspicious happens report it. The magnet campaign..."
Other participants also expressed concerns about the so-called 'fridge magnet' campaign and its impacts on the community.
"That was ridiculous. Does that mean if you see any Muslim walking around anywhere then they're terrorists? What does it mean?"
"The Interfaith Network did not do anything about it at the time. I remember it was discussed in one of our meetings only."
"We have had people reply about thirteen months ago to that campaign and my friends wrote articles and letters to the government and in newspapers about this campaign. I don't know if they got printed or not. I remember [the campaign] was disgusting. Who do you watch? You would understand that. Does it mean that you are watched in your street? What does it mean? It got to a stage where you were at the supermarket and people would look in your bags more. If you were carrying a big bag because you have got nappies in them they were being looked at. And really aggressively searching through your bags and I don't know, being a mother and having a child you would think the mother and child would be the vulnerable and gentlest ones. It was an embarrassment of course. So they are the people being picked on and being under pressure. I am very outspoken so I don't have a problem and I will say things back, but why should I have to and why should other people that have the courage that I do have to be able to say something back. That was just so difficult for a lot of people. And for it to come from the government was very bad as well."
The group discussed ways of limiting the impacts that such campaigns have on the community. The representative from the Ethnic Communities Council of the South East said, for example, "the first thing I did early in the morning I went to every staff and I told everyone if you see anything out of place or anything that is going to create some problem please come and report it."
Another participant wasn't too hopeful about counteracting the effects of such a campaign and believed branding an entire community for the actions of a few was not going to help, especially when "one Muslim does something bad, it is always said Lebanese Muslim or Turkish Muslim, it is never said the Lebanese Christian."
The members of the network did not feel, however, that they are 'fighting a losing battle'. Rather, with agreement from other members, one participant said:
" ...Because we are people of faith it does enlighten our justice and sharpen our commitment to respect and to equality. I think it sharpens our focus. I rang the radio the other day and complained about the language used about these boat people. I said they are not allegedly asylum seekers. They are asylum seekers. They are not alleged anything. They are asylum seekers. The language that is used is used to confuse and to keep the public in the dark. As an Interfaith Network we are not really a political force. So when I rang there it was not as any particular person, but I think it is because of our faith that we are committed and we really want to stand up for other people that we stand beside. And we want to be seen to be standing beside them. That is one thing about our network. We always wanted to be visible. To be seen to be standing beside everybody else equally. That is something we have learnt, is equality in our network. Nobody dominates in our network. There is respect for each faith and tradition. Equal respect."
The importance of religious education in schools and the community was also felt to be important, as one participant believed that one problem is that "society is becoming faithless."
"One of the things that is of concern to our community is that [religious education] is being taken out of schools and that is why our society is going the other way. All religions. It is out of the curriculum. When I was at school it was there."
Understanding of other faiths was also felt to be imperative.
"That is one thing about our network, it is about community relations and it is also about understanding other faiths because that is part of the community relations. It is about understanding other faiths because ignorance breeds fear and that is what keeps people suspicious of others. [The government] are ignorant and fearful and society then becomes like that. It is a prey to misinterpretation and misinformation and this breeds more difficulty."
"We are not here to convert people, but we are here basically to understand each other much better and look at diversity and diversity is good. It is quite phenomenal and it would be difficult for us to comprehend and listen so we know about that and respect that."
"I believe that the Interfaith Network is an icon of what the whole City of Greater Dandenong should be on about. It cuts across all cultures, all creeds, and all social barriers. There are groups of all sorts; ethnic groups that are spanned by all sorts of working groups in the whole city. This is why when we applied for the Living in Harmony grant I got really upset when they gave it to more culturally specific rather than our multicultural/multi-faith group. I can remember the very first time the Living in Harmony thing came in ...we were saying this was fantastic because this was just designed for us. But, we didn't get it because we were too successful. It was a Catch-22."
What more could be done?
The importance of faith leaders in the Network extending their knowledge of other faiths and of the Network back to their own faith communities was stressed as Network members felt it was an effective method of encouraging community members to attend events, "so they can all rub shoulders." To help bring different faith communities together, one member "started writing in the monthly column about the Interfaith Network and interfaith issues in [his local ethnic] newspaper."
Members also believed it is important for faith leaders not just to talk about interfaith issues but to attend meetings and events as meeting people from diverse faiths is more important than just talking about them.
"I really think the faith leaders could do a lot more in getting the messages through to their own communities and bringing them along to the meetings. I can speak personally and I know over the years the [small] number of people from my faith community who come to the annual gathering. A couple of them recently said to me 'I didn't know it was on and I forget to come' and I thought 'you and everyone else'. We had the two priests there, but nobody else. That is a shame because there's nothing like the experience at the [grassroots] level. It is coming along and being part of and meeting others. It is putting faces on religions.
One idea, which the entire Network considered to be a great idea:
"I was helping the Buddhists design a sticker for their front doors and cars. It read 'We respect your faith, please respect ours!' That could be something we could distribute to the whole Network."
For more information on this Interfaith Network go to www.greaterdandenong.com. (search keyword 'interfaith')
