by Sahar Foladi
South East election candidates from Hazara and Afghan backgrounds have joined together on the election hustings.
City of Greater Dandenong and City of Casey Council candidates partnered to educate the culturally and linguistically diverse communities during the month of Muharram.
Muharram is the first month in the Islamic calendar, also a month of mourning for the Shia minority in which Prophet Mohammed’s (pbuh) grandson (Imam Hussain ibn Ai) was martyred in the Battle of Karbala with majority of his family members.
As such, large religious gatherings are held in various communities to re-tell the tragedies of the battle for people to be able to grieve.
However, their visitation upset some people who called them out within three-minutes into Abdullah Neshat’s speech asking them to leave the venue as not a place for election talks.
City of Casey candidate for the Quarters Ward Aftab Hussain refused to comment however he says they had a great interaction with the people from the community across the 17 locations visited.
“It was educational and campaign for awareness on how and why to participate in the council elections, its importance rather than other things, it went very well.
“People were very happy. Many people don’t know how the process works and different levels of Government, so we thought it’s important to educate the community.”
Mr Hussain is a Hazara from Quetta Pakistan now a resident of Lyndhurst of over a decade with his family running for the Quarters Ward covering Cranbourne, Cranbourne West and Lyndhurst
The 17 locations covered were throughout the two municipalities with turnout of thousands if not hundreds were seen in various mosques or hired venues by religious organisations.
City of Greater Dandenong candidate Rahima Rizai was also present among other Casey candidates Abdullah Neshat, Jawad Erfani, Ali Yaghobi among a few.
In a video footage largely shared by the candidates on social media, Jawad Erfani gave a 10-minute speech at one of the locations which is also shared on YouTube featuring six candidates.
On the other hand, their efforts and commitment to stand up for elections as candidates were welcomed and encouraged in another location in Dandenong.
“I think it’s a very healthy and progressive democracy that people who intend to do better for the community are running.
“They all want to serve their community in their own ways.
“I belong to Hazara community from Pakistan, as electrical engineer migrated over 10 years ago it’s important for me to give back to the community where I live.”
As a person who can speak five languages (Hazaragi, Urdu, Punjabi, Farsi/Persian and Hindi) he says it’s been a great help to communicate with various CALD communities to connect with them better and speak of their issues on a personal level.
“Strategically it’s important that we have a voice in council to understand the comprehensiveness of how the bureaucracy in local government structures work.”
Mr Hussain works as a higher education professional at the University of Melbourne and currently undertaking his PhD at Deakin University.
He has also graduated with International Policy degree from University of Melbourne and has degree in electrical engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology from Lahore Pakistan.
