AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION OF ISLAMIC COUNCILS
Melbourne Office
PO Box 14094 MCMC
Melbourne Vic. Australia 8001
Tele/Fax (+613) 9329 1228
Eid Al Adha27 March 1999
Letter to Australian media
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, on behalf of our Muslim
community of over 300,000 Australians would like to express its abhorrence
at the anti-religious atrocity recently perpetrated against a place of
worship in Melbourne. On Thursday evening, March 11, at 11:00 pm, three
petrol bombs were thrown into the Melbourne Vinayagar Hindu Sangam Temple.
We understand from the Hindu community that this attack was interpreted by
the police as an attempted murder, as the priests’s house was alsoattacked.
The silence of the media has been most noticeable. The press release issued
by the Hindu community reads
“Local television stations carried extensive footage of the fire,
however of the two local news papers, the Age carried nothing and
the Herald-Sun carried only a short piece with no photographs. No
wire service stories have been seen on the arson incident, nor any
national coverage in Australia.”
We cannot blame Melbourne Hindus for what some lunatic groups of Hindushave
done in India. We should all know that prominent Hindus, Christians and
Muslims took part in demonstrations in India against the wicked murder of
the Australian missionary and his children by a group of fanatics.
The media has a role in informing our local community that such actions are
not an expression of Hinduism. Religious tolerance is of vital importancein
our culturally diverse community.
There can however be no tolerance for church or temple burnings if we areto
continue to enjoy freedom of religion in Australia. We must all learn to
live with those whose religious ideas might differ from our own.
The Australian Muslim community calls upon all people who value freedom of
religion, which is supposed to be one of the Four Freedoms upon which our
United Nations Organisation is constructed, to make it know to the
Government of Victoria that such actions are not acceptable to any of usand
that strong action should be taken against those who perpetrate such
Nazi-type outrages.
Yours sincerely,
Bilal Cleland
Secretary AFIC