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ABC Listen. Podcasts,

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radio,

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news, music and more.

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Just before we start, this episode

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contains descriptions of violence and

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strong language.

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Dada's was a record store that I used to go to all the

0:23

time. They sold punk records. Back

0:26

in 1988, Neil was just a teenager. He

0:28

was your classic 80s punk. Bleached

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denim jacket, piercings and

0:34

short cut blonde hair with a long fringe

0:36

that went down to his chin. And

0:38

on this day, he was in Dada Records, searching

0:41

for something particular. And I had

0:43

to look around, but they didn't have what I was looking

0:46

for. So after a bit, he turned

0:48

to leave the record store.

0:50

And as I was walking out, there were about maybe

0:53

seven or eight Nazi skinheads walking in.

0:58

These guys had shaved heads, jackboots

1:00

and swastikas. They were part

1:02

of Perth's Nazi skinhead scene. Racist

1:05

bullies and kind of disorganised. But

1:08

since the Australian nationalist movement had started

1:10

covering the city in racist propaganda,

1:12

the skinheads had become more

1:15

confident and more visible.

1:17

So they started to become a lot more public, right?

1:19

So they started to get out and about in

1:21

groups. Neil was literally

1:24

wearing his feelings about that on his

1:26

sleeve as he walked out the record store

1:28

that day. I had a,

1:31

there's a band called the Dead Kennedys and they've got a song

1:33

called Nazi Punks Fuck Off. When

1:35

you bought the EP, they came with a little

1:37

patch that you could sew on your jacket which said

1:40

Nazi Punks Fuck Off with a picture of a swastika

1:42

or a circle around it and a cross through it. So

1:44

I had that on my arm. Whether the skinheads

1:46

saw the patch or just his general look,

1:49

they weren't impressed. And what Neil

1:51

says happened next

1:52

would haunt him for years to come. So

1:55

I started going past him and as I kind of got

1:57

down four steps, I felt an elbow

1:59

go

1:59

Me right in the eye and I just

2:02

thought oh fuck and I look back and they were just yelling

2:04

at me Neil put his head down and kept

2:06

walking I just had this feeling you know when

2:08

you get when you think someone's looking at

2:11

you And I just and I look back

2:13

and there they were running towards me and

2:15

so I just bolted Just

2:18

thought I'm if I don't go I've

2:20

had a run I'm dead I Knew

2:23

exactly what was gonna happen and they were heading towards

2:25

me And I could hear their their

2:27

boots on the gun there on the footpath

2:29

Neil ran

2:32

towards this old multi-story car park

2:34

I ran into there and then ran up the steps all

2:37

the way up and up and up and up and up and up He

2:39

kept running until he reached the top floor of the stairwell

2:42

So I opened the door which was right next

2:44

to the left and it was open So

2:46

I jumped in the left and there was a woman in there, and I was just

2:49

you know Hyperventilating

2:51

and I said call the police please now this

2:54

was 1988 There were

2:56

no mobile phones So

2:58

as Neil tried desperately

2:59

to catch his breath the woman pressed the

3:02

button for the lift to go down But

3:04

after traveling just one floor

3:07

the lift stopped and the doors

3:09

opened and there they were And

3:12

they just grabbed me and pulled me out of the lift And

3:14

then I just got hit and hit and then

3:16

fell and then I was unconscious

3:25

And I was like oh my god, you're alive

3:27

I'm not gonna lie

3:29

He doesn't really know what happened next

3:31

maybe that woman in the lift called for help But

3:34

after a while he became aware

3:37

of a voice

3:38

Laying a pool of blood out the front of that lift for

3:40

hours I've

3:43

got this distinct memory of someone saying oh my god,

3:45

you're alive get up

3:46

But it sounded like they were talking

3:48

down through like a cardboard tube. They

3:51

had blood in my eyes I couldn't really see I didn't know

3:53

what was going on But I just felt like I was being picked

3:55

up But I could sort of see bits and then I

3:57

could feel like myself in the car

3:59

Neil says the skin heads fractured his

4:02

jaw, broke four of his ribs, two

4:04

of his fingers and hit his head

4:06

so hard that he had swelling on the brain.

4:09

So I was just in intense pain, I could barely

4:12

move, you know. My head

4:14

was just, felt like I was just about to

4:16

explode, you know, that pressure in my

4:18

head that,

4:19

yeah, it just felt like I was going to

4:21

die.

4:26

Neil didn't pursue the assault with the police. He

4:28

didn't trust the force. He didn't know

4:30

the people who beat him up. He didn't know

4:33

if there were A&M members or just some

4:35

other skin heads. All of

4:37

which made life really scary

4:39

for Neil.

4:41

I didn't go into the A Street Mall for at least,

4:44

I reckon maybe three or four years. I

4:46

was always on edge. You know, I'd

4:49

look outside of shops up and down the footpath before

4:51

I'd go out. But

4:53

Perth's new Nazi skin heads weren't

4:55

going anywhere.

4:57

And with the A&M on the rise, Neil

4:59

decided he couldn't just keep hiding.

5:02

Because this is escalating, I'm not going to give

5:05

up. I'm not just going to walk away and

5:07

let these fucking idiots be able to walk all

5:09

over people and, you know, impose

5:12

their fascism on us.

5:18

Things were getting scary in Perth. Racist

5:21

fire bombers were already on the loose and

5:23

police had so far seemed kind

5:26

of unable to stop them. But then

5:29

something really interesting happened. President

5:31

of the World Ninja Society spoke

5:34

out about the fears in his community and

5:36

the role the lethal ninja fighters

5:39

can play. Martial

5:41

artists, activists, punks

5:44

and vigilantes started pushing

5:46

back. But Perth's racists

5:48

weren't going to back down

5:50

easily.

5:54

They surrounded us and we just hope we're going to fucking kill

5:56

you. And the nighttime attackers came

5:58

up with the most devastating.

5:59

stating plan yet. The discovery

6:02

that the virus of some sort had

6:04

been detonated in that fire scene,

6:07

it now became protection of life.

6:13

This is Firebomb, the

6:16

latest season of the ABC's Unravel

6:18

Podcast, episode three,

6:21

punks and ninjas.

6:29

I was young back in the late

6:31

80s and I was like only eight years old,

6:33

so I had no idea what was happening

6:36

on Perth streets at the time.

6:38

So when Neil described all

6:40

of this, the street battles, the skinheads,

6:43

the violence, it was totally

6:45

new to me. Like when you start to see people who don't

6:47

like you doing things like that, it's

6:50

a real concern starting to see that escalation.

6:53

I'm kind of beginning to

6:55

understand the kind of fear

6:58

and the level of fear and

7:00

I can understand why

7:03

a lot of migrants probably kept quiet

7:06

and didn't speak up. It must have just been terrifying.

7:10

Like I can't imagine, you know, trying to build

7:12

a life in a country that's

7:15

already relatively racist and

7:17

then this extremism sort of coming to your door

7:20

and destroying your livelihood, I

7:22

just can't imagine how that must have been for your family.

7:26

My parents never talked about

7:27

the roaming skinheads

7:30

walking, but then I also know that my parents, they would literally

7:32

leave the house, go to the restaurant, they'll cook till

7:34

midnight,

7:35

close the shop up and then head back home. I

7:38

think a lot of the Australian community or the Western Australian

7:40

community were

7:41

quite unaware of what was going on. They would

7:44

have seen these posters, but I think a lot of them just

7:46

thought it was just a small group of people and

7:48

had no idea of the extent of

7:50

what they were doing and what they were planning.

7:53

What

8:00

it seemed like a chaotic mess of racism

8:03

and violence was beginning to feel more

8:05

controlled. And one day

8:08

in about 88, 89, just as

8:10

the Chinese restaurants were all coming under attack,

8:13

Neil says he caught a glimpse of

8:16

just how organised the threat was becoming.

8:18

It was about a year after he'd been bashed in the car park.

8:22

Here's what he remembers about that day. I

8:25

was on the train with a friend of mine.

8:28

It was really high. Just sitting

8:30

there and then I think it was City

8:33

West Station that we stopped at. So

8:35

the train stops at the platform and the doors

8:37

open. And suddenly Neil and his mate

8:40

look up to find the train carriage

8:42

filling with angry looking young men.

8:45

And yeah, a whole

8:48

big bunch of Nazi skinheads climbed onto the train.

8:51

The entire carriage

8:51

was full of them. Neil's breathing

8:54

gets faster. His ribs still

8:56

hurt from where they'd been broken by skinheads

8:58

about a year earlier. I was still in

9:00

that sort of state of trauma. I really felt

9:03

like I was living quite outside of my own body.

9:06

Then Neil sees two other people get

9:08

on the train. They aren't skinheads,

9:11

but he recognises them straight away.

9:14

They're the two most senior members of

9:16

the Australian nationalist movement,

9:19

Jack Van Tongren and his right

9:21

hand

9:21

man, John Van Blithersway. And

9:24

they were wearing military style outfits.

9:27

There were two leaders and they were soldiers

9:30

on the train. It was like a small

9:32

military. They were ready to go.

9:35

You know, they were quite, you could sell some of them, quite

9:37

drunk.

9:38

Neil's pulse is rising, but

9:41

he's trying to stay calm. Or

9:43

at least he's trying to look that way. All

9:45

those guys were always armed. You know, I know I

9:47

knew a few of them. And I know the one, the particular

9:50

guy that I knew, always would carry a massive

9:52

knife with him. It only takes a moment before

9:54

the skinheads notice Neil and his mate and

9:57

start a close in on them. They surrounded

9:59

us and we just.

9:59

So we're gonna fucking kill you. You fucking

10:02

hippie, you blah, blah, blah, using the N word.

10:05

And, you know, like it was, I was just

10:08

terrified. You know, there was just a point

10:10

where I just thought, these guys are gonna kill me. The

10:12

train takes off, sealing Neil and his mate

10:15

in. They're surrounded. He

10:17

talks to his mate as quietly as he can as

10:19

they approach the next station. I

10:21

said, as soon as we get off, we're gonna run. So

10:24

we got up and walked and they follow us to the

10:26

doors. But as he reaches the doors of the train,

10:29

Jack Van Tongren

10:29

has some words for Neil. Jack

10:33

actually said to me, have a safe night, mate. Have

10:35

a safe night, mate.

10:37

And with those words, the doors

10:40

open. Neil and his mate step off

10:42

the train and they run. I

10:44

just, you know, well, I just was ready.

10:46

I just thought they're gonna follow us off.

10:52

When they let themselves look back, they realize

10:55

the skinheads have stayed on the

10:57

train. They've let them go. He

11:00

doesn't know why. But what

11:02

he does know is this. The

11:05

skinheads are getting bolder and

11:07

more organized and now seem to be standing

11:10

shoulder to shoulder with the A&M.

11:13

The A&M had also escalated to a point where

11:15

those skinheads were going out and beating

11:17

people regularly.

11:19

Sort of upper leadership of the

11:21

Australian Nationalist Movement saw them as henchmen.

11:25

Any hard work they needed to do, they would

11:27

get the skinheads to do it. And they were

11:29

happy to do it.

11:30

Roaming bands of skinheads are now orbiting

11:33

the A&M. And as far as

11:35

Neil can see, they're doing its

11:37

dirty work without even trying to

11:39

hide it. And that was the thing about the A&M

11:42

back at that point was they were getting away with

11:44

a lot of stuff and the police weren't really doing

11:46

much about it. As far as I was aware,

11:48

it was really just, you know, people

11:50

on the far left, socialists, anarchists, communists,

11:53

punks, university students, they

11:56

were actually doing things about it. You know, campaigning

11:58

against it, tearing the...

11:59

down, you know, talking to other

12:02

people about it. So

12:04

I think not much was

12:06

really happening. Most of the

12:08

Chinese community was lying low. I

12:11

mean, we were understandably terrified,

12:14

but there was this one guy who just kind

12:16

of all of a sudden stuck his head up

12:18

and very publicly said he was ready

12:21

to push back against the A&M.

12:23

And he created a service to do just

12:26

that. It was called Dial

12:28

and Ninja. We are very

12:30

much against any racial prejudice or

12:33

any racial bias. We stand for that.

12:35

Earth's ninjas made themselves available

12:38

on hotline to sort out any racist

12:40

intimidation. I remember seeing

12:42

Zhong Ang on TV. He was

12:45

this Chinese man with a stern

12:47

face and a stocky build, and

12:50

he would appear on the screen in his

12:52

ninja uniform, all black.

12:55

And he had this white headband

12:57

with Japanese writing around his

12:59

head. And he didn't smile

13:02

throughout the whole interview. He just spoke with this

13:04

authoritative voice. The

13:06

art of the ninjas are definitely an extremely

13:09

lethal art without doubt. But that

13:11

doesn't mean that we are going to kill anybody.

13:13

Mr. Ang says his organization will remain

13:16

well within the law, but that he fully

13:18

intends to bring the full extent of racism

13:21

into sharp focus.

13:26

Maybe it's because around the same time as

13:28

a kid, I was watching Teenage Mutant

13:30

Ninja Turtles on the TV. It just

13:32

come out. So having this concept

13:35

of a real life ninja

13:38

for me was something that

13:40

really stuck in my mind.

13:42

And now as an adult doing

13:45

this story, I know that

13:47

I need to hear from him.

13:49

And it turns out he wasn't that hard to find because

13:51

his wife is in this

13:53

dim sum social group that my parents

13:55

are in. So

13:58

we just reached John's place.

14:01

So ABC reporter Alex Ban and

14:03

I went to visit him in his house. John,

14:06

thank you so much. Do you mind if I sit next

14:08

to you? Yes, we reckon closer to the microphone. No

14:10

problem at all. Just sit down.

14:14

When John migrated to Australia

14:17

from Singapore in 1987, he

14:20

expected to find a laid-back and

14:22

welcoming place, but

14:24

instead he found the opposite. I

14:28

see posters everywhere, stickers

14:30

everywhere. Asians, go home. Asians,

14:33

you're not wanted. I was traumatized

14:38

when I realized that I

14:40

am not welcome here at all. Why?

14:43

Well,

14:44

because of the color of my skin, because

14:47

of the color of my hair. Yeah, friends

14:50

of mine, also Chinese or

14:52

Asians. Equally, they

14:54

are petrified about what's going on. And

14:58

we started to look a little deeper

15:00

into the problem and we realized that the

15:02

root of this problem lies

15:04

with one man and his gang. We

15:06

need to do something because the majority

15:09

of the Asians were petrified by

15:11

the actions of Jack Van Tonkren.

15:13

John was a lawyer by training, but he also had

15:15

a black belt.

15:16

Martial art has always been my passion. So

15:19

I started martial art school.

15:22

Our art is a ninja kai tai jitsu,

15:24

which is basically a ninja art. We

15:27

want to sort of let the public know at

15:29

a time that if you happen

15:32

to encounter problems like your restaurant

15:34

being firebombed or you're being yell at and all that,

15:37

give us a call.

15:38

We will try to look into the issue

15:40

for you. It's sort of a thing where

15:43

we want to give them a bit of confidence.

15:46

That they are not alone. Then one

15:49

day John was walking towards his martial

15:51

art studio and he says he

15:53

noticed that something was wrong. When

15:55

I came over and I said, hey, my God, what happened to my

15:58

dojo is all being painted.

15:59

red color, splashed,

16:02

not really painted, but splashed with paint. And

16:05

that was my reward for

16:07

saying that, look, we are going to stand up with

16:10

the Chinese community against Jack and Tomrin. Although

16:13

John held a black belt in martial arts,

16:15

he was becoming increasingly worried

16:18

about what the A&M could do in retaliation.

16:21

My dojo at the time, being splashed with

16:23

plain graffiti and all that kind of thing,

16:26

you know, you know, for sure that they are looking for

16:28

you. He even started

16:29

carrying a samurai sword when he left his

16:32

studio late at night. I was I

16:34

was scared to to say I'm not scared

16:36

to be a lie, because for the simple

16:38

reason that they are armed guns,

16:41

they are armed with guns. What is a black belt

16:43

against a gun?

16:48

Thankfully, John never had to try

16:50

out that sword. He never actually

16:52

got into a fight with the city's skinheads

16:55

or A&M members. But

16:57

getting into fights wasn't really the point

16:59

anyway. The point was that John

17:02

was standing up for the community in a really

17:04

public way when few other people

17:06

were.

17:09

Can I just ask one more question? I

17:11

mean, for me, growing up, you

17:13

were quite visible in my childhood

17:16

memory and watching you speak on behalf

17:18

of the Chinese community. I didn't feel like there

17:20

were many voices back then from our community.

17:23

Was this

17:24

something that you were conscious

17:26

of? Asians generally, you know,

17:29

they do not want problems or trouble. They are

17:31

very happy giving to themselves,

17:33

you know, running their own business. They are more

17:35

the passive kind of people. And

17:38

that was

17:39

when I felt it is just so

17:41

unfair. John was still

17:43

haunted by those posters he'd seen soon

17:46

after arriving in Australia.

17:48

He wanted to do more than just tear

17:50

them down. He wanted them outlawed.

17:53

The Dallin Ninja thing had given him this platform,

17:56

so he decided to use it to reach

17:58

out to politicians.

17:59

he was writing letters in bulk urging

18:02

the government to change the laws, to ban

18:05

the posters, to do something.

18:08

I mean, what are we looking at here? What is this? This

18:11

is this huge pile of paper

18:13

here. I mean,

18:15

how many letters did you

18:18

write? These are

18:20

all correspondences over the years.

18:23

Correspondences with the

18:25

state government. Because I

18:27

want to be heard. I want the government to hear

18:30

us, to understand the plight

18:33

that the Chinese and the Asians are in.

18:35

WA's oldest Chinese association,

18:37

Chenghua, was also organizing

18:40

meetings and lobbying politicians in the

18:42

background.

18:43

By 1989, their pleas

18:45

were getting desperate. Please understand

18:48

that it is a plight that these Asians

18:51

are facing and experiencing and you have

18:53

got to help us. While

18:55

John Ang and others in the Chinese community

18:58

were trying to get the A&M's racist posters

19:00

outlawed, the A&M themselves

19:02

were becoming bolder, more brazen

19:05

and more violent.

19:07

And the group's leader, Jack Van Tongren, was

19:10

starting to get personally involved in pursuing

19:12

his group's enemies. And one

19:14

of them was a student activist

19:17

called Nick.

19:18

We've been hearing stories of people getting

19:20

bashed and stuff. And I

19:22

thought, well, we're doing something that's

19:24

definitely got annoyed the crap out of

19:27

Nazis. And one needs

19:29

to be careful.

19:30

Nick was pretty sick of the A&M's

19:32

intimidation. So he set up this

19:34

group called Aussies Against Racism.

19:38

They used to go around and spray paint over the

19:40

A&M posters. It was quick and

19:42

efficient.

19:43

And Nick could paint over heaps of posters

19:45

in a single night. People had to know each

19:47

other to become part of the group.

19:50

And that's what I thought was, well, some level

19:52

of safety.

19:53

But one day, this young guy called

19:55

Dennis came to one of their

19:57

meetings.

19:59

He was a bit younger than me. He was about 17

20:02

and he was just a

20:04

regular young guy. So he

20:06

just came in and one of the guys pointed

20:09

him out to me and I started talking to this young

20:11

guy called Dennis and finding out who

20:14

he was and that and he said, how did you find

20:16

out about us? He said, oh, a friend of mine told me about

20:18

you and it just sort of

20:20

went okay.

20:21

He was part of the meetings and getting involved. So

20:24

Dennis came out on a few spray painting

20:27

runs with Nick's crew and

20:29

then one night a little bit later on, Dennis

20:31

and another guy went around to Nick's place and

20:34

knocked on his door. Now it was late at

20:36

night, but they told Nick that they had seen

20:38

some of these A&M posters at the back

20:41

of the local Kmart, which was just around

20:43

the corner from Nick's. And so they asked

20:45

him to come with them and take

20:47

down the posters.

20:48

Nick had a funny feeling in

20:50

his gut about this whole thing, but he

20:53

decided to go along anyway with

20:55

a bit of protection.

20:57

So what I decided to do is to bring my dog with

20:59

me, which is a German Shepherd Labrador cross

21:03

named Tan. Because I think about that on the way

21:05

down is just, you know,

21:07

how safe am I?

21:09

Because I'm really, really seriously

21:11

suspicious about this. As

21:15

he's walking down the back alleyway behind Kmart,

21:17

Nick realizes his suspicions

21:20

are right.

21:22

And I noticed Dennis and

21:24

this other young guy just bolt, run. I

21:27

was going, what the hell? And I was looking and then I went, my dog

21:29

bolted as well. Dennis

21:32

is an infiltrator. He's not an anti-racist

21:35

activist. He's a senior member of

21:37

the A&M. He spent weeks

21:39

passing on intel about Nick's activities

21:41

to Jack Van Tongren and other

21:44

members of the gang. And now he's

21:46

left Nick in a dark alleyway and

21:49

Nick has walked into a trap.

21:52

And I turn around and there's these guys

21:53

covered in balaclava

21:55

zone with camouflage fatigues, head

21:58

to toe with boots.

21:59

jack-boot song. I tried

22:02

to bolt but then they cracked

22:05

me over the head with a clump of wood and

22:08

they caught me, they grabbed me, two of them grabbed

22:10

me and then they started dragging me around the corner. I

22:13

knew I thought I was gonna have my legs broken or get really

22:15

bashed up. I knew that other

22:18

people had been bashed and hurt already. The

22:20

main thing I went into was into immediate

22:23

survival mode. Nick's

22:25

bleeding from the wound on his head but

22:28

is still conscious.

22:29

I actually went limp. I decided to make

22:32

it half of them. They had to carry me

22:34

and I pretended to be like out of it

22:37

and like you know totally

22:39

fucked. The attackers start pushing him

22:41

towards his yellow car and one of them pulls

22:43

out a big hunting knife. So

22:46

the two guys grabbed on either side and

22:49

this guy with a big bowie knife was a guy

22:51

literally holding it to my stomach. Nick

22:53

is terrified. He's struggling to get

22:56

free. One of the attackers tries

22:58

to stuff a sock in his mouth

22:59

to keep him quiet and then he

23:02

hears this familiar voice. Heard

23:05

him on TV radios and been

23:07

interviewed and so I knew it was his voice. It's

23:09

Jack Van Tongren. The leader of

23:12

the A&M is there. And

23:14

as they get closer to that yellow car

23:16

and Nick listens to them, one

23:19

of the men says something that makes him worry

23:21

that this might not just be a warning.

23:24

One guy's got the door and opened it and that's when

23:26

I heard we can't kill him here we got to get him out

23:28

of here. Nick needs

23:29

an escape route. He's groggy from

23:32

the blow to his head but is also trying desperately

23:34

to work out what to do and then

23:37

just by chance another

23:39

random person drives past. Everyone

23:41

pauses as the headlights sweep over them

23:44

and then at that moment Nick

23:47

sees a dark shade running towards

23:49

them.

23:51

Tan

23:51

came around the corner and went berserk

23:54

and he started going at them and

23:56

they jumped back. In the confusion

23:58

Nick makes a run for it.

23:59

for it. And then I bolted and

24:02

I just bolted and I just kept running and

24:05

jumped the fence. He runs

24:08

towards the first open door of a house that

24:10

he can see on the street. With a light analyst

24:12

went in through the open door and in the lounge room was

24:16

a young family complete with grandmother and grandkids.

24:20

And I was bleeding

24:22

from the cut to my head and they just

24:24

immediately rang the police and

24:27

the ambulance.

24:31

Nick is bruised all over his face

24:33

and body and needs stitches in his

24:35

head. His dog Tan has cocked

24:38

it much worse. One of the gang had

24:40

belted the dog of the face. And

24:42

unfortunately he paid the price of getting his jaw broken.

24:45

Thankfully after a trip to the vet, Tan

24:48

would later make a full recovery. But

24:50

he, that distraction is what saved

24:53

me. If Tan hadn't come around the corner like that,

24:55

I don't know what would have happened.

25:04

It was pretty clear now that anyone

25:06

who opposed the A&M was going to face

25:08

the threat of violent retribution.

25:11

The city's racists seemed to be everywhere.

25:14

On the streets pasting up posters, lighting

25:16

fires on the city's airwaves,

25:19

spewing hatred.

25:21

But for Jack,

25:22

all of that wasn't enough.

25:25

So in January 1989, he

25:27

opened up a new front in his fight for

25:29

white Australia.

25:31

He decided to run for a

25:33

seat in the state's parliament.

25:35

And not only that, he ran up against

25:38

the same politician who had caught

25:40

him posturing and reported him to

25:42

the police just a month before.

25:44

It was a message to me that he

25:47

was going to be there in my face no

25:49

matter what. WA's Minister

25:51

for Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs, Gordon

25:54

Hill, wasn't happy. He

25:56

now had a neo-Nazi

25:58

running against him in his own seat.

25:59

and on top of that, in the weeks

26:02

leading up to the election,

26:04

someone had been phoning his wife

26:06

at work. She was regularly

26:09

receiving telephone calls from

26:12

some anonymous person telling

26:15

her that they were going to blow my head off if

26:17

I won the election. Gordon

26:19

and his wife didn't know who

26:21

was behind the cause, but

26:24

police were taking the threat seriously.

26:26

They said that they wanted to follow me around,

26:29

they wanted to be close by

26:31

because they saw that there was a real serious

26:34

threat against me.

26:36

Then, just two days before the election,

26:39

there was an attack. But weirdly,

26:41

it wasn't at Gordon's house. It

26:44

was at Jack Van Tongren's house. The

26:47

attackers had used the same method as in

26:49

the other fires. They threw a Molotov

26:52

cocktail against the front of his house,

26:54

then fired three shotgun rounds

26:56

into the window for good measure. So

26:59

just to underline how confusing things had

27:01

become, the guy who many

27:04

people thought was responsible for the attacks

27:07

had now been attacked himself.

27:11

The next day, the day before the election, Van

27:13

Tongren spoke to reporters outside his

27:15

house. It was aimed

27:18

towards where I would normally be

27:20

sitting in my chair that much, and we have

27:22

worked that out already. They used extra

27:24

heavy pellets, the

27:27

heavy shot. Whoever did it was

27:29

not kidding. On election day,

27:32

the mood was tense. Van Tongren's

27:34

followers had actually turned up at the local

27:36

polling booths, and Gordon Hill

27:38

says they were dressed in military-style

27:41

clothing.

27:41

So

27:43

there were a lot of voters there lining up to vote, and

27:46

Van Tongren's people wearing their khaki

27:48

greens and well-organized

27:51

with their how-to-vote cards. The thing

27:53

that really stood out to me and worried

27:55

me enormously was some of them were

27:57

actually carrying knives.

27:59

He reported what he had seen to

28:02

the electoral staff on the booths and

28:04

he was just about to leave when someone

28:07

started yelling

28:08

I was walking out of the away from the

28:10

polling booths talking to my Helpers

28:13

and thanking them for their presence when I

28:16

heard this voice I of course,

28:18

I recognize the voice and heard it enough on

28:20

radio and television I'd also

28:22

heard it personally in Vic Park a few months before

28:25

Gordon hadn't noticed but Jack Bantongram

28:27

himself was at the booth And

28:30

he was livid and he he saw

28:32

me and he made a beeline for me and

28:34

he yelled at me He yelled you

28:36

were few firebomb my house

28:38

He made these outrageous accusations

28:41

accusing me of doing it It certainly

28:43

wasn't Gordon who firebombed Jack's house,

28:45

but police weren't sure who

28:47

had He was frothing at the mouth.

28:50

He was so ideologically driven

28:53

my Campaign

28:55

director who was there with me said let's

28:57

get out of here Gordon. He's mad this man.

28:59

He could do anything

29:04

Gordon Hill left and later that night

29:06

when the election results rolled in it became

29:09

clear that he had been reelected Meanwhile

29:12

Jack Bantongram and the A&M only

29:14

ended up receiving 2% of the vote

29:17

I was hoping that there would be no support

29:19

for him at all. My hope was

29:21

that he would get no votes He'd lose his

29:23

deposit. Sadly. He got about 400 votes.

29:26

I think thereabouts Jack Bantongram

29:28

hopes of making political inroads

29:31

were Unfulfilled but hundreds

29:33

of people in this one seat knowingly

29:36

or unknowingly Had just

29:38

voted for a neo-nazi

29:44

So For more than six

29:46

months city of Perth had just

29:48

been kind of sleepwalking through this unprecedented

29:51

campaign of racist terrorism Meater

29:54

coverage of the fire bombings against all the Chinese

29:56

restaurants have been pretty low-key,

29:59

but in May

29:59

In 1989, the fire bombers did something

30:02

that really couldn't be ignored. At

30:04

first, the head of the arts and squad, Moritong,

30:07

thought he was just dealing with yet another attack

30:09

on a Chinese restaurant, just like all the other

30:11

ones.

30:12

Well, it was the same thing and my thought was, here

30:14

we go again. This attack

30:17

was even at a restaurant the fire bombers

30:19

had hit before, the Coast

30:21

Singh Chinese restaurant in Linwood.

30:26

So we mobilised that morning, went

30:29

out, set up command centre as we

30:31

always did. Moritong set up a

30:33

perimeter and in his usual way, he

30:35

started working his way back towards the centre

30:38

of the fire. But

30:39

he quickly realised that this

30:42

one was different.

30:43

For starters, the fire bombers had actually

30:45

entered the building.

30:47

There was evidence of forced entry into the restaurant

30:49

from the back door, as against just having

30:52

glass broken to introduce a flammable

30:54

liquid. So things had

30:56

changed.

30:58

Moritong and his detectives then entered the

31:00

restaurant and again, he saw

31:02

something new, something disturbing.

31:05

The first thing we noticed was that whilst

31:08

there was a lot of black smoke and everything else,

31:10

fire hadn't actually gained hold inside the

31:12

restaurant. But it had blown

31:15

the roof off the wall and

31:17

had blown a number of the restaurant

31:20

chairs up and on top of the

31:22

top plate of the wall and the roof

31:24

had come back down onto the chairs and squashed

31:26

them flat and trapped them between the top

31:28

of the walls and the underside of the roof

31:30

structure, which is something I've not

31:32

seen before or since. There

31:35

was also this

31:35

distinct aroma in

31:37

the air. There was a strong

31:40

smell of explosive.

31:44

It's a very sticky, sickly sweet

31:46

smell that gives you a shocking headache very quickly.

31:49

So the detectives divided the restaurant

31:51

into small one square meter

31:54

sections and began working their

31:56

way methodically into the middle of the

31:58

restaurant.

31:59

The closer they looked, the more concerned

32:02

they got. We started finding

32:05

evidence of a huge amount

32:08

of small lengths of fencing wire. All

32:10

over the place, embedded in furniture, on

32:12

the floor, splattered into the walls.

32:15

The walls were pitted with it, so

32:17

this fencing wire, wherever it originated,

32:20

had been expelled under extreme force.

32:24

Then in the centre of the room, Morrie

32:26

found the source. There was a blast

32:28

crater, about 4-5

32:29

cm deep in the concrete

32:32

slab where the carpet used to be. This

32:34

fire didn't start with a Molotov

32:37

cocktail. It was a powerful

32:39

explosive. The evidence that was obtained

32:41

demonstrated a complete change in

32:44

modus operandi. We got

32:46

some unexploded residues, or residues

32:48

that were analysed and found

32:51

to be, I think it was Emu-gel, which was a

32:53

commercial explosive used in mining

32:56

at the time. This immediately

32:58

changed the game. The bomb had been

33:01

deliberately wrapped in wire, which

33:03

turned into shrapnel when the bomb exploded,

33:06

causing maximum destruction. Without

33:19

knowing for sure exactly who was carrying

33:21

out the attacks and what their mindset was,

33:24

Morrie and his team could only

33:26

speculate about what might come next.

33:29

And guessing what could be next, well

33:31

it terrified them. The discovery

33:34

that a device of some sort

33:36

had been detonated in that fire

33:38

scene, it now became

33:41

protection of life. Because

33:44

I feared, and my fellow team

33:46

members in the arson squad feared, that

33:49

this was a precursor to having

33:51

a device set off during trading

33:53

hours. I knew with

33:56

horror

33:56

that it appeared that somebody

33:59

was testing. the effectiveness

34:01

of that sort of whatever device had been made.

34:08

By this point the arson squads investigation

34:11

had narrowed significantly.

34:13

Despite the confusing fact that Jack

34:15

Van Tongren's own house had been firebombed

34:17

just before election day, the various

34:20

senior members of the A&M were still

34:22

the main suspects for the restaurant attacks.

34:25

This explosion just made the detectives

34:27

mission even more urgent. But

34:29

they still couldn't get the definitive

34:32

evidence they needed. Well

34:33

it was horrifying, it really put the pressure on. Meanwhile

34:36

in the media, it seemed like the A&M's

34:39

leader Jack Van Tongren was almost

34:41

goading the arson squad detectives. The

34:43

Australian Nationalists Movement, headed by

34:46

Jack Van Tongren, says it has nothing

34:48

to do with this explosion or any others. But

34:51

it did say, and I quote, The

34:54

Asians represent a hostile minority against the wishes

34:56

of the Australian public. At the moment

34:58

we are all living in difficult circumstances and

35:00

extreme times call for extreme

35:03

measures. I felt exceptionally frustrated

35:05

that we just couldn't seem to get the

35:07

evidence required to link them

35:09

directly to it.

35:13

But there was one piece of evidence

35:15

discovered at the fire scene that did

35:17

provide Moritong with what felt like

35:20

a promising lead.

35:21

It was

35:25

a fragment of cloth material, fibres,

35:28

which

35:29

forensic officers kept,

35:32

were seized, preserved. Morit

35:35

had been keeping a close eye on the gang

35:37

and he knew that one of the members lived

35:40

super close to that Chinese restaurant. With

35:42

the fibres received

35:45

off the back fence. And the coincidence

35:48

that just down the road from the restaurant

35:50

one Russell Willie lived, who

35:52

was already being looked at. And

35:55

that led to getting sufficient

35:57

evidence to take out a search

35:59

warrant.

35:59

So Russell Willie

36:02

was a senior member of the

36:04

A&M and he'd even been seen in public

36:06

standing next to Jack during a lot of his media

36:09

interviews. So in the days

36:11

that followed, Maury and the other

36:13

arson square detectives went full throttle.

36:17

They went over to his house to talk to him but

36:19

they also searched his home and

36:21

inside they found a green

36:24

jumper with a tear in it. So

36:27

it was sent off for analysis in the hopes that

36:30

it could get them a little closer to concrete

36:32

answers. But they didn't just

36:34

search Russell Willie's house. The

36:36

arson squad also paid a visit

36:39

to the leader of the A&M, Jack Van

36:41

Tongren, and what they found in

36:43

his house was so concerning

36:46

they arrested him.

36:47

Jack Van Tongren was

36:49

arrested early this morning after arson

36:51

squad detectives searched his house and allegedly

36:54

found explosive substances including

36:56

gunpowder and safety fuses. For

37:00

a moment it looks certain that Jack and the gang

37:02

were completely caught but incredibly

37:05

even these breakthroughs weren't

37:07

enough. The

37:08

detonation cord and the other explosive

37:10

stuff at Jack's house looks suspicious

37:13

but none of it matched what was found at the Coe Sing.

37:16

And the fibers they found in the cyclone wire

37:18

fence around the restaurant well they

37:20

did match Russell Willie's jumper but

37:23

even that on its own wasn't enough to

37:25

keep him behind bars. The

37:28

police needed more so

37:30

they had to let both men go free.

37:35

We had plenty of supposition and

37:37

we had plenty of indicators and

37:40

became you know within a millimeter

37:42

of getting the evidence that was required. We

37:44

pulled out all stops and I just had virtually

37:47

two detectives doing the day-to-day fires that

37:49

were coming in and the rest of us were 100% focused on the A&M. We

37:52

were

37:53

getting

37:55

considerable political pressure from up on

37:58

high flowing down to

38:00

our neck of the woods. It was like

38:03

Premier and Police Minister contacting

38:05

Commissioner, contacting

38:08

the head of the CIB, contacting

38:10

me and him saying we need

38:12

a result and me saying well

38:14

you give us the evidence and we'll give you the result.

38:22

In the 1980s Western Australia

38:24

really didn't understand terrorism. It

38:27

just didn't really enter their mind as a possibility

38:30

and maybe that's one part of

38:32

the reason that Perth had been kind of slow to

38:34

react to what was happening.

38:36

But once that bomb went off in the co-sing,

38:40

things were different. Things

38:42

seemed to move much more quickly and it seemed

38:44

like everyone was paying attention from

38:46

then on.

38:48

That also meant that the A&M

38:50

was getting the attention that its leaders

38:52

had always craved.

38:54

Their campaign of terror was causing panic

38:56

all the way from the state government in WA

38:59

to the federal government and even

39:01

overseas in Asia. This

39:04

has been the only news on our state

39:06

in Hong Kong. The Asians out

39:08

signs posted around Perth and the bombing

39:10

of Chinese restaurants.

39:12

The shock through prospective migration

39:14

and Asian trade. I know

39:16

for a fact that quite a few business migrants

39:20

have gone to other countries rather than Australia.

39:23

Six Chinese restaurants in Perth have been

39:25

the subject of arson squad investigations.

39:28

All of this tends to confirm the assertion that

39:30

Western Australia is the most racist state in the

39:32

country.

39:35

There is impossible to convince people

39:38

that everything is sweet and rosy in WA

39:40

at that time. It's just not possible. Later

39:43

the Premier will be forced to make a special

39:45

trip to Hong Kong in an attempt to

39:47

repair the damage to the state's international

39:49

reputation. The Premier flies out

39:51

to Hong Kong this weekend in an attempt

39:54

to alter our image. But

39:56

Western Australia's police force was about

39:58

to get a breakthrough.

39:59

handed to them, one that would lead

40:02

them to someone on the inside, someone

40:05

who had the potential to bring down the gang's

40:07

whole operation. I've been searching

40:10

for all my life, doing things

40:12

dangerous, things just for the pure pleasure.

40:15

And the dogs were let loose. This

40:17

was just a nightmare from health for them. They

40:20

never expected this in a million years.

40:24

This series is hosted and reported

40:26

by me, Crispy and Chan and Alex

40:29

Mann. We've been making this podcast

40:31

on Garagoland and What Jag Nuna Land.

40:34

Our producer and researcher is Dunya

40:36

Karagic. Research and fact checking

40:39

by Johnny Liu. Our theme and

40:41

music composition is by Martin Peralta. Sound

40:44

design and additional music by Simon

40:46

Brantwaite. The commissioning editor

40:49

was Alice Brennan. And our executive

40:51

producer is Tim Roxburgh. To

40:54

make

40:54

sure you're the first to get the next episodes,

40:57

follow the Unravel podcast. You

41:00

can find it on the ABC Listen app.