Australian Homepage: Twenty four hours in Beijing

SAFE: Michael and Candice Milnar at their Melbourne home.

23rd March 2002

An Australian Falun Gong practitioner recently detained in China tells Australian Homepage about his experience and why he risked the wrath of the Chinese Government.

Michael Molnar says he was surprised at the vicious reaction of Chinese police officers who detained him and his wife Candice along with several other Australians after they attempted to display Falun Gong banners in Tiananmen Square earlier this month.

"They did punch me and kick me. I'm not sure how many punches I got because after the first I was a little bit dizzy and then they started kicking me while I was on the ground and they continued kicking me."

"I guess it's really not something I'd wish anyone to experience. The feeling of the police completely going loose and letting go in such a vicious nature was very apparent and I would consider that they would have broken a number of my basic human rights. But in comparison to the treatment Chinese practitioners receive it really fades into non-existence."

Michael, who has been practicing Falun Gong for three years, is surprisingly forgiving to the individual police officers despite their treatment, which also resulted in Candice receiving a broken finger.

"I know that a lot of the people that take part in persecution are not aware of the truth. There is a lot of propaganda in China, people are not allowed to know the truth, so how can I be angry?"

Falun Gong, otherwise known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of meditation and exercises based on the principles of truth, compassion and forbearance. All activities are non-political, non-religious and non-commercial. It is practiced in more than 50 countries around the world and its teachings are published in 17 languages. However the Chinese Government, apparently worried that hundreds of thousands of people are taking up something beyond their control, has embarked on a deadly smear campaign which leaves most Chinese under the impression that it is a dangerous religious sect threatening their way of life. A desire to break through the anti-Falun Gong propaganda is the main reason why the Molnars and seven other Australians, including former Olympic swimmer Jan Becker, embarked on their risky mission to Beijing.

Michael says he can understand anyone questioning their judgment, but says he could not stand by while the Chinese Government spread mistruths about Falun Gong and continued to persecute its members.

"It's like someone badmouthing a very close friend or a mother or father when you know the truth. It is really difficult to just sit back and not do anything and not say anything when something like this does happen," he says.

He says that despite the fact that Australian Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested in Beijing before, he did not expect to get arrested as they were not doing anything illegal even under Chinese law.

"We did consider the consequences but we weren't doing anything illegal. The Chinese constitution clearly states that Chinese citizens have freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

"The law that declared Falun Gong illegal in July 1999 hasn't actually gone through the proper constitutional process so it is not a valid law," he explains.

"All the time we were there we kept asking why we were detained and why we haven't been arrested and we never got an answer. So we weren't really arrested."

However things could have been a lot worse. While the Australians were detained, President Jiang Zemin, angry at a Chinese television documentary which sought to tell the truth about Falun Gong is alleged to have ordered police to "kill them (Falun Gong practitioners) without mercy." Police have since been ordered to shoot "on sight" Falun Gong practitioners caught putting up banners, posters or distributing flyers.

Meanwhile the harassment of Falun Gong practitioners in Australia continues.

This month Federal Police ordered Falun Gong practitioners to remove banners and signs outside the Chinese Embassy in Canberra one day before the arrival of China's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Tang Jiaxuan. It is understood the police were acting on instructions from Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who just a few days earlier criticised the Chinese Government for detaining the nine Australians.

The Canberra action comes just weeks after Falun Gong practitioners were banned from taking part in Chinese New Year celebrations in Melbourne and Sydney, and the cancellation of an exhibition by artist and Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Cui Ying at the Chinese Gardens at Darling Harbour.

http://www.aushomepage.com.au/article/883/