Statement in support of the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry — Queensland Muslims Inc.
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“I was raised in South Africa during the apartheid era. So, I have witnessed firsthand the short- and long-term impacts of institutionalised racism, including severe inter-generational trauma…Just as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought healing and reconciliation for South Africans, I have witnessed how our State’s Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry has started a new era of healing and reconciliation for Queenslanders,” says Habib Jamal, President of Queensland Muslim Inc.
14 November 2024
Statement in support of the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry
I first acknowledge the bravery and frankness of all Queenslanders who have participated in the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry thus far — both First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous peoples.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have suffered much as a result of colonialism, including from the State’s racist legislation.
I was raised in South Africa during the apartheid era. So, I have witnessed firsthand the short- and long-term impacts of institutionalised racism, including severe inter-generational trauma.
In the 1980s while I was working as a high school accounting teacher, I was detained for blocking the military and police forces from entering my classroom — they sought to arrest students who had protested the government’s racialised human rights abuses.
The students stood in solidarity with those suffering under the apartheid legislation. I, in turn, stood in solidarity with my young students.
Today, I stand in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders and the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry chair, Joshua Creamer, and the Inquiry’s members.
This is, in part, because I have followed the healing that took place as a result of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which commenced very soon after the apartheid system was dismantled.
I serve on the Queensland Police Service’s Police Multicultural Advisory Group. I note that the Queensland Police Service’s commissioner spoke at the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry in September.
In my Police Multicultural Advisory Group role, I have read in the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to family and domestic violence report that “Queensland pioneered” a “regime of racial control that was then modelled by other Australian colonies” and that “there is also strong anecdotal evidence that it was used as a source of inspiration for South African apartheid legislation” (page 10).
I find this connection deeply disturbing.
South African apartheid ended in 1994. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings commenced soon after in 1996.
Thus, I believe that Queensland’s Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry is long overdue, and that Queenslanders are mature enough for the Inquiry to continue.
Just as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought healing and reconciliation for South Africans, I have witnessed how our State’s Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry has started a new era of healing and reconciliation for Queenslanders.
It’s one thing not to start a healing process — it’s another thing altogether, a harmful thing indeed, to start such a process and then halt it.
The Inquiry’s scope is “to provide a public platform to listen and record stories, educate and build understanding about First Nations history and culture, and make recommendations for next steps.”
I am especially concerned about the Elders who grew up under Queensland’s so-called “protection Acts” — time will soon run out for them to formally document their experiences and stories.
During the Inquiry’s September hearings, Aunty Florence Watson OAM shared that her mother, who was four years old at the time, was shot in the hip during a massacre. Her mother was then forced to walk in chains for days from Maytown to Cooktown before being forced to a mission.
Aunty Florence told the Inquiry that she was also taken from her family as a young teenager.
These stories must be heard and documented before it’s too late.
I urge the Queensland Government to reconsider its decision and allow the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry to recommence hearings immediately.
I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the dedication and work of Inquiry chair Joshua Creamer and the Inquiry members, and I call upon Premier David Crisafulli and the Minister for Women and Women’s Economic Security, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Minister for Multiculturalism, Fiona Simpson, to meet with the Inquiry team as a matter of urgency to discuss a meaningful way forward.
Yours sincerely,
Habib Jamal
President
Queensland Muslim Inc.
