MELBOURNE, KOMPAS.com – Santi Whiteside already lived on Australia more than 20 years and now he is one of the councilor candidates in the Whitehorse constituency, east of Melbourne.
A “councillor” is an official who is elected by election to a “council,” or district or city level Government Council. One of the councillors at once will become mayor or mayor.
Santi admitted that he had never thought about being able to participate in the council elections, let alone get into politics in Australia.
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“I accidentally became a politician, not because I had the ambition to become a politician or the head of a local government,” he told ABC Indonesia.
He admitted that his activities in a number of community organizations in Melbourne made his colleagues ask and support him to run in the election which is held every four years.
Santi is known as a multicultural ambassador for the Australian mental health foundation (MHFA), Vice President of the Indonesian Citizens Association in Victoria, the Indonesian culinary association, as well as a committee member at the Indian Association in Australia.
“Even though I’m bleeding Batak, but I’ve been interested in Indian culture for a long time, “he said.
Costs of up to hundreds of millions of rupiah
In Indonesia, money politics in an election is an open secret, but Santi admits this, at least, did not happen in the council elections in Victoria.
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“The cost that I spend is in the range of 10,000-20,000 Australian dollars [lebih dari Rp 100 hingga 200 juta], “said Santi who came from North Sumatra.
“But mostly to create campaign materials, such as posters, advertisements in the media,” he said.
Santi admitted that he currently gets his political capital from his activities in a number of organizations, so that he understands a number of problems experienced by residents, especially new migrants, such as welfare, employment opportunities, mental health.
“If I get elected on [kawasan] Wattle, then I will be able to raise the problems faced by the people here by understanding the diverse cultural background, “he told Erwin Renaldi from ABC Indonesia.
Due to the tight restrictions on activities amid the Covid-19 pandemic, councillor candidates in the state of Victoria cannot conduct face-to-face campaigns.
In return, Santi admitted that many residents contacted him directly, either by phone or by email, to find out what steps he would take to solve problems in his area.
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“Stay proud” of Indonesia
This mother of three children and married to an Australian man admitted that he had changed nationalities since 15 years ago with the excuse “to make it easier to introduce Indonesian culture to the world level”.
However, he said that this did not diminish the Indonesian values that he adhered to, especially the matter of living in cultural diversity.
“I remain proud of Indonesian customs and the values that my family raised and I now recognize as an Australian with strong Indonesian values,” he said.
“However, Indonesian customs and culture that emphasize the unity and welfare of the family are in line with the values in life in Australia.”
Santi admitted that he did not have too much hope in this election, because he had learned many lessons for him to participate in practical politics in Australia to prepare himself better in the next four years.
“One of the reasons I want to participate this year is to have more Indonesian citizens [di Australia] to dive into Australian politics for a better life for citizens, “said Santi.
Candidates from various cultural backgrounds
This year, there are many councillor candidates in Victoria who come from various racial and cultural backgrounds, such as Santi, with the hope that they can make a difference for their communities.
Calvin Chin, a Malaysian-Chinese blood, chose to participate in the election at Monash City Council, where a quarter of its population is of Chinese descent.
“Most of the Asian migrants here are first generation … their voices are unheard of,” Calvin said.
Not only because of cultural factors that are far different, Calvin said that often they are not represented because of language barriers.
Likewise with Amina Liban, who came to Australia 20 years ago with her parents and eight siblings from Somalia.
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Although he has seen a lot of progress in accepting diverse cultures, he thinks there is still less opportunity for people who are not white.
“We are trying to provide a variety of services to citizens, [tapi] if you don’t have an understanding of the culture while meeting their needs, how can you provide the best service? “said Amina.
To ABC IndonesiaAmina said she wanted not only to represent the African and Muslim communities, but also to increase women’s participation in Australian politics.
Meanwhile for Santi, he wanted all citizens, especially those in the regions he represented, to receive fair service and attention.
Moreover, he felt that people from various races and cultures in his area were not too exposed or involved in social life.
“I want to build a multicultural community life that is strong and harmonious, respects each other and sees one another as one big Australian family,” said Santi.
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