Police reaction to Indian student protests damages Australia's reputation

Video of the - to put it mildly - vigorous police response to the protest by Indian international students in Melbourne against race motivated assaults has gone around the world.

Unfortunately the official response from authorities here has been deficient. Last night on ABC TV's Lateline Simon Overland came across more like PC Plod than the Victoria Police Chief Commissioner:

SIMON OVERLAND, CHIEF COMMISSIONER VICTORIA POLICE: There were other people who became involved, most of them weren't Indian, they were there for their own reasons, and I think the whole thing just got hijacked and got out of control.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: With international attention on his officers, Simon Overland was there this morning and personally entered the crowd.

SIMON OVERLAND: We'd been in discussions with them for a long time. It got to the point where we needed to clear the intersection. So as I say, if they've been injured, I regret that, but in terms of what I saw, the police action was entirely justified and appropriate.

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SIMON OVERLAND: They've made their point, they've made it very powerfully. It's a point we already understood, but they've made it to the rest of the community, and I think the rest of the community understands it. If they're not careful they'll overplay their hand and the support for them will quickly evaporate.

Both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have condemned the attacks which gave rise to the protests but it's taken until tonight for the Foreign Minister to get out of the blocks and announce the establishment of a taskforce to investigate the issue . Commissioner Overland is not a member.

Better late than never but a lot of damage, some of it unnecessary, has been done to Australia's reputation as reports in, for example, The Hindu , Al Jazeera and the BBC attest.
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Mumbai madness

I've spent a lot of time following the media coverage of the appalling events in Mumbai, which I visited in 2005. Not only am I familiar with the location of most of the sites attacked I've had first hand experience of some of them. Like millions of Indians I've used the CST (formerly VT) railway station and, like many other tourists, I've eaten at Leopold's Cafe in Colaba, where apparently the first shots were fired.

My sympathies go out to the friends and families of all those killed or injured in the attacks.

Australian media on back foot with online polls

In today's Crikey Thomas Hunter asks "Australian Test team: do we really hate them?" and claims, on the basis of online polls conducted by The Age, The Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, Today Tonight and Fox Sports, that the Australian cricket team is on the nose.

Some commenters have pointed out that such polls are statistically dodgy. OK, but why are they so common nowadays?

Others say that people from overseas (code for Indian diaspora) can vote and thus skew the results. If so, why don't the pollsters break down the responses according to country of origin?

IMO a problem with polls (online or other) is their wording. Adelaide Now (aka The Advertiser online) ran one recently, posing the question: "Do the Australian cricketers play within the spirit of the game?".

The results are published in today's Advertiser (p79):

• Yes, they always do: 288 votes (12%)
• Yes, but in the heat of battle things aren't always clear; 464 votes (19%)
• No, they'll do anything to win: 1500 votes (63%)
• No, in the professional era there is no such thing: 128 votes (5%)
  

Dan Lato , the blogger/ columnist, comments (in print but not online):

This week Adelaide Now 's coverage of the aftermath of the Sydney Test has gone global as is obvious by the poll we ran this week. Indians are passionate about their cricket and the stirring online defence of their team is testament to the devotion they have to Indian players.

Questions for Mr Lato: (1) how many Indians voted in the poll, (2) how does he know?, and (3) if he does know why doesn't he come out and produce the figures?

Crossposted at Nudges and Deflections.

The sweet smell of excess

A number of sources, including the BBC and Reuters, report that police in the Indian state of Gujarat are to be issued with new cotton uniforms impregnated with special fragrances which also glow in the dark and make overweight officers look more svelte :

The co-ordinator of the apparel design section of India's National Institute of Design (NID), Somesh Singh, told the BBC that the idea to design more fragrantly pleasing police uniforms was agreed with the police authorities last month.

"The purpose is to do away with the perspiration odour," he said. "We have decided to make these uniforms more sweet smelling. Three different fragrances - jasmine, rose and citrus will be incorporated into these uniforms."

Mr Singh said that the designs would use the latest fibre optic technology to make sure the uniform not only smells good but glows at night so officers can be seen more clearly. He said the uniforms had also been specially designed to make overweight policemen look more streamlined when they are on the beat.

"They have been designed in a manner to ensure that the paunch of the wearer does not draw the attention of anyone looking at him," Mr Singh said.

In the Reuter's report Mr Singh alludes obliquely to the Indian police's reputation (also suggested by the photos accompanying the BBC report and depicted in several contemporary novels eg Vikas Swarup's Q&A) for robust operational methods:

"Most policemen look hassled, drenched in sweat after coming from any scene of crime," said Somesh Singh...They are surely not the best person one would like to meet, but if they smell good and fresh one might as well approach them."

And the police? The Reuters report quotes an Indian English speaking officer:

"We are tired wearing the thick cotton brown colour uniform with a broad belt and plastic badges for several decades now," said R.K. Patel a senior police officer."If the new uniforms makes us stand out in the crowd, keeps us active with pleasant aroma and is yet very formal, then we are all for it."

PS The Indian cricket team is also hoping to steal a march (or a few runs) on its opponents by adopting a uniform which is 15% lighter in weight than its predecessors. I'll say more about this on Nudges and Deflections.