Sikh Man asked to remove Turban in australia

[nanosecond]

Outrage over Sikh turban ban

By staff writers

May 12, 2004

A SIKH man who was asked to remove his turban in an Adelaide hotel dining room will lodge a discrimination complaint.

But the hotel denied being prejudiced against Saroop Singh Johal, saying it was strict hotel policy for diners to remove headwear, SBS radio's World View program said tonight.

Mr Johal said he was asked by hotel staff to remove his turban but explained he could not do so, for religious reasons.

When staff insisted he remove it, Mr Johal asked to see the hotel manager, but was met with a similar response.

Mr Johal, who is secretary of the Riverland Sikh Society in South Australia, said he had never encountered such overt discrimination in his 24 years in Australia.

"I'm here for that long and nobody asked me that question before, and this is very, very sad, but she said `no, we have a management rule and you are to remove your hat, otherwise you sit outside'," Mr Johal told SBS.

"And then I walked out and the bar lady was there and I said `this is not nice'.

"All day it was a very sad day for me. I felt very embarrassed. Now my daughters have found out and they were very, very angry."

The hotel manager, who gave her name only as Bernie, said she was not "into religion" and did not know about the Sikh dress code.

"We do have a policy here ... which is no hats at the dinner table. It's called manners," she told SBS.

"That's just our policy and obviously the lady who spoke with him was just following our procedure."

M

r Johal said he intended to lodge a formal complaint with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission over the matter.

The Federation of Ethnic Community Councils of Australia said the incident demonstrated a profound ignorance among some Australians about religious diversity.

"It is really very disgusting and un-Australian behaviour for someone to be kicked out because he is wearing different clothes," federation chair Abd Malik told the World View program.

"I think it is important to review what legal system we have to protect people suffering from this abuse."

[Khalsa4ever]

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

Yeah, I read that article elsewhere... its pretty unfortunate that some idiots are still sooooo ignorant that they don't have the common sense to differentiate between a hat and a turban.

Has anyone else from Australia had this kind of problem?

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!