Hanson must stop citing dad's death: Cheng

Murdered NSW Police employee Curtis Cheng's son has accused Pauline Hanson of putting more Australians at risk by promoting anti-Muslim sentiment.

 Four NSW men accused of plotting the murder of Curtis Cheng have faced a further terror charge. (AAP)

Source: AAP

The son of slain NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng has called on senator-elect Pauline Hanson to stop using his father's death to justify her concerns about Muslim migration.

The Queensland politician's moves to promote fear and exclusion will only "put more Australians at risk", Alpha Cheng wrote in an open letter published on Monday.

"My father was murdered by a 15-year-old boy. I cannot deny the fact that the perpetrators professed to be followers of Islamic State," he said.

"However, it does not follow from these facts that Muslims should be feared."

Ms Hanson's One Nation party mentions Mr Cheng's death in its policy on Islam, which argues that the religion may be fuelling the threat of terrorism.

The controversial politician has also made several references to Mr Cheng's death while appearing on the ABC's Q&A program last Monday.

He was shot dead by Farhad Jabar as he walked out of police headquarters in Parramatta last year.

Jabar was killed by officers immediately after the attack, while four other men were charged over the terror-related shooting.

Mr Cheng's son said he believed it was not Jabar's religion that caused him to shoot his father.

"He was using his faith as an excuse for violent and antisocial extreme acts," he wrote in a letter published by Fairfax Media.

"By all accounts, he (Jabar), perhaps disenfranchised, was brainwashed by forces outside of Australia; an extreme reaction of alienation or not feeling part of the society or group to which they belong."

Generalisations and fearful attitudes would only increase this sort of alienation, and put more Australians at risk, he added.

The Canberra teacher said he was a victim of the "hateful and fearful attitudes" that the One Nation Party promoted when he was a young immigrant to Australia in the 1990s.

"I remember feeling ostracised and isolated from the country and identity with which I had adopted in harmony with my cultural heritage," he said.

He said his own close relationships with Muslim friends and students had not changed after his father's death, and he still believed Australia was a successful multicultural and multi-faith society.

"We need to look how we can heal and build; not how we can divide and exclude," he said.

"My dad was a gentle and peaceful man; his name should not be used to promote fear and exclusion."



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3 min read
Published 26 July 2016 9:28am
Updated 28 July 2016 4:23pm


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