By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
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A NUMBER of Springvale businesses are standing behind a fierce campaign calling for the dumping of six Greater Dandenong councillors in the October council elections.
A pamphlet, titled Dan Len Tieng (People Speak Out) and printed mostly in Vietnamese, has taken aim at the councillors for rejecting ‘Saigon Square’ as the name of a public space in Springvale.
During the naming process, the council received comment from 11,000 petitioners, more than 8000 of whom supported ‘Saigon Square’.
In March, six councillors – mayor Youhorn Chea and Roz Blades, Maria Sampey, Peter Brown, Yvonne Herring and Pinar Yesil – voted for what was described as a more inclusive name, ‘Multicultural Place’.
The recent pamphlet, which has been distributed in loose leaf and appeared in the local Vietnamese newspaper Human Right, stated the six “arrogant” councillors “simply pooh-poohed the people”.
“It’s more than just about naming a place. It’s about politicians disrespecting the people. It’s about democracy,” it stated. The pamphlet does not appear to be authorised by anyone.
Cr Loi Truong, one of the pamphlet’s apparent advertisers, was coy about his involvement. At last week’s council meeting, Cr Truong denied any prior knowledge of the advertisement, featuring his picture and number.
But Cr Blades today warned voters in the upcoming election not to be swayed by any promises to change a Springvale public space’s name to ‘Saigon Square’.
Cr Blades said it was too late to change the name.
‘‘They want people to vote for them on the basis that they’ll change Multicultural Place to Saigon Square,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ve told them all that it can’t be changed.’’
Cr Peter Brown said he’d been told there would be “five Vietnamese ready to nominate … to take control of the council”.
He dismissed their chances based on Vietnamese residents making up 8.8 per cent of Greater Dandenong. He described the group’s petitions and purported numbers as “rent-a-crowd”.
However, 2011 census figures show that Vietnamese-born residents make up 21.2 per cent of Springvale.
Barrister Luat Dung, who advertised on the pamphlet, will be standing for council election on the issue. “It will galvanise the vote for a large ethnic group but it will be the Chinese and Cambodian against the Vietnamese – it will have a negative impact on my campaign for sure.”
He said anger had been simmering in Springvale. “If you have a look at Dandenong compared to Springvale, you will see we have been given nothing.”
Trung Doan, a convener of a pro-Saigon Square group, said there was “a core group of people in the low hundreds willing to help”. “I definitely hope the six councillors lose their votes so a message is sent to all councillors.”
Other pamphlet advertisers Lam Loc – a business consultant – and South Eastern Melbourne Vietnamese Associations Council told the Weekly they stood by their support for the wider campaign.
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