December 3, 2003 Wednesday

A QUIET Toorak street recently became the launching pad for an international campaign to raise awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Petals of Peace was recently launched outside the Chinese Embassy in Irving Rd.

The campaign aims to reveal the persecution suffered by followers of Falun Gong and gather support in the fight to stop the suffering.

It also encourages children around the world to fold paper lotus flowers as a symbolic gesture to stop the persecution.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was introduced by Li Hongzhi in 1992, and more than 100 million people around the world now live by the practice, practitioners say.

The practice, which was outlawed in China in 1999, is not a religion but an ancient Chinese spiritual discipline that includes exercise, not unlike Tai Chi, and meditation.

Practitioners live by three basic principles truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.

Springvale resident Jane Dai has travelled to more than 30 countries to tell her story. Her daughter Fadu was chosen as the ambassador for the peace campaign.

Ms Dai said the Chinese Government outlawed Falun Gong because it had become so popular it was seen as a threat to the communist regime.

Innocent people were being persecuted and killed, she said.

"I want this to be stopped," Ms Dai said.

Ms Dai speaks from her own experience. Almost three years ago her husband died after being tortured in police custody when he went to the Government with a letter stating how much the family had benefited from Falun Gong.

She said it was common practice in China to present a letter to the Government with your concerns, without risk of persecution, but Falun Gong practitioners had been stripped of that right and any legal representation.

Fadu was six months old at the time and Ms Dai took her daughter and fled to Australia, fearing for her own life.

"Because I hold an Australian passport, that's why I survived," Ms Dai said.

Ms Dai said that before the crackdown, Falun Gong was endorsed and practised by many members of the Government, but overnight all that changed.

"They had 24-hour propaganda on the TV channels, on the radio (and in all the) newspapers," Ms Dai said.

She said every worker was ordered to stop work to listen to the propaganda.

Ms Dai said those who continued to practise Falun Gong lost their homes, their jobs and sometimes their lives.

Ms Dai has taken her case to the United Nations and is one of the practitioners involved in lawsuits against former Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin for crimes against humanity.

LOAD-DATE: December 2, 2003