Strathfield Council knocks back plan to build a Comfort Women statue

[ThirdTerm]

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build a memorial statue in Strathfield commemorating the `comfort women’ of World War II has been rejected. This week Strathfield councillors voted unanimously to “take no further action” concerning the Comfort Women Memorial, saying it did not meet the criteria of the council’s memorial policy.

The proposed Three Girls statue became a long drawn-out issue after the Korean Committee of United Austral Korean-Chinese Alliance approached the council in March 2014 wanting to erect the statue in Strathfield Square or a nearby public location.

But it was quickly criticised as misguided by the Japanese embassy in Australia and emotions ran high. Opposing sides packed the council’s chambers last April and submitted petitions containing thousands of signatures. At one stage the council even sought Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s advice on the matter.

“Strathfield prides itself in being a multicultural community bringing people from around the world together in peace and harmony. Through mutual respect and understanding, it is Strathfield’s hope that this potentially divisive issue can be turned into an opportunity to engage with each other in a positive way moving forward. If a jointly agreed-upon proposal for a statue is put forward in the future, Strathfield Council will consider the application at that time.”

Strathfield Council knocks back plan to build a Comfort Women statue proposed by Korean community

A Korean-Chinese group tried to build a memorial statue in Strathfield Square in Sydney but the plan was rejected by the city council because the issue is so divisive that it would further worsen race relations in Australia. The Asian community now makes up 30% of Strathfield's population (20% Chinese, 10% Korean) and they are increasingly vocal about this particular historical problem. It's a landmark decision which would become a precedent in Australia and the pressure group may have to give up on its plan to erect more statues in Sydney or other Australian cities. I have never been to this part of Sydney but Strathfield councillors made the right call.

 

[ScienceRocks]

maybe it could be built holding a cock in their hand.

 

[ThirdTerm]

Jan Ruff-O'Herne, who grew up in the Dutch East Indies and later immigrated to Australia, was forced to work as a comfort woman when the Dutch East Indies was occupied by Imperial Japan. A Dutch investigation found that 60% of few hundred Dutch comfort women existed in the Dutch East Indies were common prostitutes, while around 60 of them were forcibly taken from their internment camps by the Japanese military. But a local Japanese commander in the Dutch East Indies ordered to close down a comfort station after it was found that women were held against their will. The main historical dispute between Japan and South Korea is about how comfort women were recruited and Japan does not deny the fact that comfort women existed and their human rights were grossly violated. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan is the major pressure group in Korea, which could even influence the Korean government's foreign policy. However, the group's name is misleading and comfort women had never been drafted under the national mobilization law. Moreover, comfort women did not serve directly in the Imperial Japanese Army's "comfort battalions" as the group's Korean name insinuates and comfort stations were set up by civilian contractors or brokers who were responsible for the recruitment of comfort women as well as the management of comfort stations located close to military bases.