Silma's Rise From The School Of Hard Knocks

Sun Herald

Sunday March 18, 2007

Taghred Chandab

Victory for the Democrats in the state seat of Auburn is improbable, but its candidate is used to winning against the odds, Taghred Chandab writes.

IT IS just before lunch and Silma Ihram has arrived for her first day of state election campaigning. The Democrats candidate is leaning on a pair of crutches that she has been forced to depend on since a knee operation several months ago.

Appearing frustrated, Ihram has just walked several kilometres from her parked car to Auburn Road, Auburn, where she is scheduled to meet and greet locals. The mother of six points out that there are limited facilities for the disabled.

"Someone needs to hold them accountable," she says of the Labor Party, which holds the local seat. "Look around," she demands, pointing to the crowded footpaths. "There are too many people and just not enough services and facilities to meet their needs."

Auburn, Ihram says, became the settling location for Somali, Afghan and Iraqi refugees more than 10 years ago.

"To me the area is overdeveloped with housing and underdeveloped with services, roads, disability services, child care, libraries, hospitals, schooling, literacy education and family support.

"We need more facilities to help the refugees adjust to their new home."

Ihram, along with Malikeh Michaels, a Greens candidate - also running in Auburn - are the first Muslim women to run in the state election for a mainstream political party.

In total there are three Muslims running in the same area - the third is former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib, who will run as an independent.

Ihram has chosen to represent the Democrats because she believes the party still has a lot to offer.

"I have always been proud of what Don Chipp did, keeping the bastards honest, and I think it would be dreadful if the Democrats lost any more seats," she says. "They have good policies. I like their attitude towards refugees, education, health, welfare."

The former school principal describes her move into politics as "the natural next step".

"I have always seen myself as a community activist and I intend to contribute significantly to the community now," she says.

"I have established two schools and it took an enormous amount of time, but it taught me a lot about administration, planning, community.

"Schools are at the centre of a community and when you're a school principal you see the community the kids are going to move into and you prepare the kids to change that community and to also be ready for it."

For 13 years Ihram worked to establish the Noor Al Houda Islamic College, first in Condell Park, then in Strathfield after the school was informed that it had leased contaminated land from Bankstown Airport.

The school had to struggle to re-establish itself and pursued a Supreme Court battle for five years, which resulted in a compensation payout from the airport.

The win assisted with repayment of the school's supporters, but did not help the college with the huge losses it had accumulated through the process.

Last year Noor Al Houda merged with the former King Khalid Islamic College, Melbourne, and is now the Australian International Academy.

The school's battle to survive was featured in the documentary Silma's School, which screened on ABC's Compass program.

Ihram has been forced to watch from the sidelines and the new administrators removed all traces of her work.

The school name and logo has changed and it has a new principal. Ihram works as a consultant and continues to teach religious studies for the HSC, but only until the school can find a replacement.

After weeks of community pressure to run as a state election candidate, Ihram says she finally gave in and announced this month that she would take on the challenge.

She admits it will be difficult to beat Barbara Perry, the Labor MP, but says her main goal is to marginalise the seat.

Perry won the 2003 state election with 60.75 per cent (24,764) of the vote (42,658 of the 46,295 who voted).

She was elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly at a byelection in September 2001, following the resignation of Labor MP Peter Nagle.

Ihram says she decided, after lengthy consultation with members of the Muslim community, to stay away from Lakemba, held by Premier Morris Iemma.

The seat has been in the spotlight since the nation's leading and controversial Muslim cleric Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly announced this year that he would back any Muslim candidate running against the Premier.

"If I was to take on the Premier it would be a straight in-your-face approach and there would be a lot of expectations on me," she says. "I want to earn respect as an across-the-board candidate and not as a Muslim candidate. The fact that I wear a hijab should be irrelevant.

"This shouldn't be about Muslims versus Iemma. I don't want to go down that line at this stage. Later on, if I am a good candidate and I do good for the community, I will consider it.

"I want to go in as someone who has something to offer and not as the person representing the Muslim community against Iemma. That's not why I should be running and that's not why they should be voting."

IHRAM converted to Islam 30 years ago while living in Indonesia after eight years as a born-again Christian. She grew up in a middle-class agnostic family and had a private-school education.

Her Catholic husband also converted and together they embarked on a series of projects in the Muslim community while raising her children.

After involvement with Muslim student associations and the national student body, the Australian Federation of Muslim Students Associations - for which she was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2002 - she set up a clothing store, the Muslim Women's Shop and Centre, in 1979 and was one of the pioneers of Islamic schooling.

Her work in the Muslim community has made her somewhat of a celebrity. As she approaches the residents and introduces herself as an alternative candidate for the seat of Auburn, she realises she needs no introduction.

She is continually congratulated for establishing the schools and taking on large organisations and setting an example for other Muslims. She tells passers-by of her plan to improve the services in the area, but that she can do it only with their help.

"After the election I want to sign up for as many community organisations and associations and to fight for the services that we lack in the area," she says.

Education and schools are high on her list of priorities.

© 2007 Sun Herald

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