:: Opinion

Racial attacks: Screen students going to Oz

S. Nihal Singh

Oct.01 : There are no short cuts to the problem of Indian students in Australia because Canberra’s desire to become an educational hub — a lucrative proposition — collides with reality on at least two counts. An undercurrent of racial prejudice, which bubbles to the surface on the slightest provocation, is a fact of Australian life. On the Indian side, the tendency to stick together is exacerbated by the character of the student body and the desire of many to employ education as a ploy to become permanent residents Down Under.

It was not so long ago that a White Australia policy was the law of the land, and for decades Australia has been wrestling with the dilemma of how to define itself. Traditionally, it has considered itself as an outpost of the Western civilisation, but it is marooned in an Asian sea. Indeed, some Australian leaders tried somewhat fitfully to engage with Asia to become honorary Asians. Australia has been famously called the lucky country with a small population and an abundance of natural resources, but there is a latent fear of Asian hordes crowding in to claim a share in the pot of gold.

This Australian dilemma has been exacerbated by the economic downturn, relatively benign in Australia’s case, and the economic empowerment of small town families in India to dream big. In many cases, families set aside their hard-earned money to give their sons a new start in life and seize the rainbow on the horizon. Such students, who go to Australia usually to take courses in areas well-served by Indian entities, are mainly interested in finding long-term employment.

By the nature of their upbringing, these Indian students are not equipped to deal with an alien way of life and culture, and the fact that they have to scrimp on money and take demanding jobs to see themselves through makes them vulnerable targets. Their lack of proficiency in English is a great handicap. Understandably, they live in run-down or seedy neighbourhoods and often live among Australians on the margins of poverty. A more prosperous student from a metropolitan city would live in better neighbourhoods and possess the ability to cope with Australian mores.

Against the background of racial prejudice, the evolution of Australia as the poorer Indian student’s foreign education destination has spelled trouble. A host of mushroom institutions and less than sterling travel agents have sprung up to cater to a rising demand and money-making possibilities. Although an attempt is now being made to try to weed out fly-by-night educational institutions and unscrupulous travel and screening agents, the Australian authorities will discover that it is but the tip of the iceberg.

As attacks on Indian students have mounted, Australia has acted in two ways. It has sent a stream of dignitaries to assure India that it means well and has sought to strengthen the legal and policing instruments to tackle a growing menace. Canberra must realise that screening out unsuitable students at the Indian end must form the basis of any effective plan to reduce the consequences of ill-equipped men and women facing the rigours of Australian life. Inevitably, the level of racial prejudice is highest among the poorer and less well-educated sections of the white population.

The attempt on the part of the authorities in Australia and India is to control the fall-out on inter-state relations of the understandable sense of shock and outrage as one Indian student after another is bashed up, some ending up in hospitals. These incidents have led the students in Australia to organise themselves to protest and give voice to their grievances. However, retaliation in kind is hardly the answer, as the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has reminded them. New Delhi has made known its concern to Canberra in an ample measure and the efficacy of remedial steps will depend upon their speed.

On the Indian authorities rests the responsibility of widely publicising the nature of Australian mores and the rigours of student life there. Although it is a citizen’s right to study where he or she wants to, an advisory screening committee should be instituted to draw attention to the obvious misfits. A joint Indian-Australian mechanism to exchange lists of suitable candidates would help.

Australia is an important country for India for its natural resources and the space it occupies in an area of vital interest. Although Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might have been extravagant in proposing a "broader Asia" partnership among Japan, Australia, the United States and India, there are obvious areas of convergence between India and Australia. From Canberra’s point of view, Chinese opposition to any such plan makes it a non-starter, apart from the fact that New Delhi would have its own reservations.

Australia is still finding its place in Asia even while its decision to rely primarily on American power in its strategic calculations is being fine-tuned to the reality of the nature and extent of its trade and economic relations with China. Canberra sided with China in voting against India in describing Arunachal Pradesh as disputed territory in a vote in the Asian Development Bank. Later, it has sought to explain that it was neutral on the Sino-Indian dispute and was in favour of development aid for the state.

Australia’s attitude is not as strange as it might appear because China has a growing regional and international profile and although Canberra is understandably skittish in giving China a significant stake in the country’s major natural resources industries — it vetoed a Chinese stake in a mining major recently — there are compelling reasons for Australia to guard its Chinese flank. Which goes to prove that the emotional issue of the treatment of Indian students should be resolved quickly to ensure that it does not add a new layer of complexity to Indian-Australian relations.