Customs Culture Cronulla - Is Australia a Multicultural Myth?

I recently wrote a feature article for my school, and decided to post it here, enjoy:

The bashing of two lifeguards at Sydney's Cronulla beach last week has sparked ugly race-related rioting in several Sydney suburbs. Do these incidents signify the intolerance of these ‘True Blue Ozzies’ as they call themselves towards foreigners, when at the same time, we proudly call ourselves an undiscriminating multi multicultural society?
Our Prime Minister confidently states that Australia is not a racist society. He refuses to believe that there is any underlying racism in any part of the Australian society. How true is our Johnny Howard this time? Is Australia a multicultural haven, or is it… a multicultural myth?
The Lebanese antagonists obviously are to blame, but only to a certain extent. However, the general Lebanese Australian community… Were they justly harmed? Should there be a grudge held against for the lifeguard attacks that were performed by these 3 Lebanese youths?
It was a dark night, where several Lebanese Australian citizens were walking home from a hard day’s work. As they relax from their sores from the day’s construction work, they were confronted by several semi-drunk youths of Caucasian descendant. They were beaten up, and left to lick their wounds, supposedly to ‘clean them of the filth they have accumulated’ and to ‘pay for what their brothers did’. When the Lebanese tried to explain, their pleas fell on deaf ears. Is this justifiable?
This doesn’t stop there. How many countless times have you heard racist jokes being thrown at ‘abos’ as we racistly call them, ‘wogs’, ‘dagos’, ‘ching chongs’ etc? Do we still pride ourselves on being a ‘undiscriminating multicultural society’ as our Johnny Howard so lovingly calls it?
A recent survey on foreigners that have either worked of studied in Australia reveals that 98 percent of them have either been bullied once in their life, 67 percent have been actively bullied before, while 35 percent are being actively bullied. Whether this is a result of racism or social bullying, this survey greatly differs from the official bullying rate in Australia of 9 percent. Do we still call ourselves a multicultural society?
I, being a Malaysian studying in Australia, have been, on numerous occasions, been discriminated against and have witness discrimination. These discriminations, which fall between the lines of racial differences, have made me make the early conclusion that Australia is in fact, contrary to its claim, a racist and discriminating society.
These conclusions, which clearly show the true face of the Australian society, have not been drawn out of nowhere. Do we still pride ourselves on being a multicultural society?
This multicultural rebuttal does not end here. We see internally, the Aboriginals, impoverished compared to the ‘white settlers’. The spacious and vast lands with the many abundant resources rightfully belongs to them. Why are these original inhabitants discriminated against? Why are they so impoverished? Are we still a multicultural society?
There is obviously something wrong with our pursue of racial tolerance and multicultural equality. While we contemplate on the racism and racial intolerance that Australia is suffering from, let’s follow the journey of Muhammad and trace the roots and the causes of this discrimination.
Muhamad is a Middle Eastern student in Australia pursuing his education in Australia. While in his pursue of knowledge, he encountered many racist and insulting comments and situations. He is made to feel inferior and is put down by his ‘mates’. After he graduates with a TER of 99.92, he is put down several times for a job.

We analyse why Muhammad is put down for most of his jobs. Is it because of his inability? Or is this because of something else? Is this because he is of Middle Eastern origin? Is this because we fear his Middle Eastern origins? So this is it. It’s the fear of the unknown. The fear of all fears. We fear Muhamad because he represents the unknown. We do not know his culture, his attitudes and customs. We are ultimately, fearing difference.
Remember the witch ages? Where we, the civilized people burned people just because they looked like or acted like witches? Well, this is happening again. We discriminate these ‘black people’ or these ‘people that eye’s grow sideways’ because they are the unknown. We fear what they bring. However, the ultimate question is still, why are they feared?
I believe it’s the influence of the media that has put these ‘different’
people in a bad light. How many times have we seen Indonesians blown up Bali? We fear them! We are afraid that they would blow us up again!
It is clear. The only way to stop this discrimination and turn Australia into the visualized multicultural haven is by education. The media has to resists its temptations to exploit the naivety of the public.
Education must be in place to educate the Australian public about these unknowns. Only then, there will be racial equality and they can declare ‘free at last! Free at last from discrimination’ (Martin Luther King – I have a dream speech)