Islam enjoys strong support in Australia
By Dewi Anggraeni
MELBOURNE (JP): Islam is not a mainstream religion in Australia, but it has a strong lobby and committed followers in the country, especially in Victoria and New South Wales.
In Victoria, there are about 20 mosques, built by earlier Moslem communities such as the Lebanese and the Turkish.
There is also City Mosque in the heart of Melbourne, managed by a coalition of communities. All these mosques are open for worship by adherents from various countries.
In Victoria and New South Wales, where multiculturalism has a powerful lobby and enjoys reasonable acceptance in the wider community, building and organizing places of worship for minority groups is reasonably straightforward provided they have the money.
The Indonesian Moslems Community in Victoria, for example, founded under the auspices of the consulate general, with Consul General E.G. Rumayar as patron, is in the process of tendering for a community hall to be remodeled as a mosque.
The community's general secretary, Abdul Razak Abdullah, told The Jakarta Post they had collected some AUD$150,000.
The money has come from individuals in the community in Victoria as well as in Indonesia.
"We have been lucky to have been able to receive donations from some Indonesian ministers and other philanthropists as well. We'll need around $300,000 all told."
The place they are after is Syndal Hall in the eastern suburb of Blackburn.
"The hall will cost $450,000 for commercial use," Razak explained.
"However, since this is not for commercial use, we believe we can get it for just under $300,000."
Results
They will be advised of the bid results toward the end of February.
Hidajat Djajamihardja, a senior program officer in Radio Australia, who has been in Melbourne since pre-multicultural 1969, has seen extensive changes and improvements in the society's attitudes toward Moslems, as well the availability of support networks for them.
When Hidajat and his wife Lily first arrived in Melbourne, they really understood why non-Britishers were called "aliens" because that was how they felt.
There was very little surrounding them that reminded them of home.
"Even rice and soya sauce were only available at a special shop in Chinatown, let alone other familiar, traditional food to break the fast each evening," Hidajat reminisced.
"To pray, we all had to go en masse to the Preston mosque or Melbourne University."
The eldest of the program officers at Radio Australia Indonesian broadcast, the late Munandar, would open his house for the community celebration of Idul Fitri.
Each family cooked, then pooled their dishes at the celebration.
"We also enjoyed the support of the Australia-Indonesia Association, whose members would come to celebrate with us," said Hidajat.
Apart from the association, the bulk of Australian society was indifferent.
"While they did not openly show hostility, they did not seem to try to understand our culture either. Sometimes they even passed slightly cynical comments at our observance of Ramadhan," Hidajat recalled.
He then compared those attitudes with the sincere curiosity and the eagerness with which Australians learn why their Moslem friends fast for a whole lunar month. They openly ask questions, not to deride, but to seek to understand.
Hidajat also observed that the younger Indonesian Moslems who have come here to study were a great deal more self-aware and self-assertive.
"They actually seek out places of worship and organize prayer and discussion meetings. This is very heartening to see," he said.