Sikh Man, Target of Racist Rant, Wins South Australia Council Seat

An Indian origin Sikh man, who was racially targeted by a man in a truck shouting racial slurs at his life-sized cut-out, has been elected as one of the new councilors of the South Australian town of Port Augusta.

After his win, Sunny Singh thanked the Indian community for their support.

“I have been here for ten years and as per the information I have gathered, I think I am the first Indian-origin candidate at least in the past 20 years to have been successfully elected as a counselor in Port Augusta,” Singh told Australian website sbs.com.au.

Singh won the election with a total of 753 votes, the highest number of votes received by any of the 21 candidates contesting in the area, the news portal reported.

“I was totally surprised because the Indian votes in the area are not more than 30 percent. But I have received a total of 753 votes, which means people outside the community have also voted for me in large numbers,” SBS quoted Singh as saying.

Last month, the 32-year-old Indian immigrant, who moved to Australia a decade ago, was racially targeted by Grant Moroney, a local truck owner, who posted a video of himself shouting racial slurs at a life-sized cut-out made from one his election placards. At the end of the video, Moroney drives over the cut-out.

At the time the video came out, Singh said this was the first time he had experienced racism in the local community, Australian broadcaster ABC reported.

“I was a little upset and shocked because I’d never even seen this man before, never met him, I don’t know why he did it,” the report quoted Singh as saying.

“I was amazed how welcoming the people of Port Augusta were when I came here. This is the first time this has happened here.”