Sarah Stephen
Addressing a Queensland state council meeting of the Liberal Party on November 12, PM John Howard said: "It is the responsibility, particularly of the leaders of the Islamic community, to ensure as best they can, with our cooperation, that those within their midst who might seek to pervert the minds, particularly of the young, to a distorted, obscene form of Islam, are identified and dealt with as best they can." Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly sought responses to Howard's call from a range of Muslim leaders and activists.
Waleed Aly from the Islamic Council of Victoria told GLW: "If the prime minister had been paying attention over the last few years, he would know that much of Australia's law enforcement and intelligence activity in counter-terrorism has already been based, in part, on intelligence provided from within the Muslim community. That was reportedly the case in ASIO's June raids, and we've now heard reports of a Muslim source in relation to this month's raids.
"The handful of people who have useful information already are passing it on. The prime minister's call adds nothing, other than to create an impression that Muslims generally know who terrorists are but are refusing to say anything about them. Of course, that is simply not true. Terrorists do not wander around mosques with a big neon 'T' on their foreheads."
Aly added: "If the government was serious about tackling terrorism, it would be looking beyond merely law enforcement. It would be undertaking very serious studies of the social dynamics that accompany terrorism, and seeking to address those. So far, governmental efforts in that sort of area have been half-hearted."
Keysar Trad, a founder of the Islamic Friendship Association in Sydney, told GLW that the call to dob in suspected terrorists was "divisive, deceptive and damaging to race relations".
"The call ignores the fact that the community is already very supportive of efforts to protect the security of this nation. It ignores all the positives by not mentioning them and whips up all the fears and stereotypes of a closed community that will harbour criminals, even though this is far from the truth. This call creates fear and apprehension, makes people suspicious of their neighbours and colleagues, as if the government is provoking the hatred.
"To reduce the potential of a terrorist act, the government must bring people together, must not discriminate against a section of the public nor use that section as a scapegoat."
Dalal Ouba, a Muslim woman active in Sydney's Stop the War Coalition, said Howard's call is very problematic. "With so many personality, personal and sectarian differences in the Muslim community it is not hard for people to frame their enemies, without the accused having a proper right to challenge them", she said.
Ouba referred to the recent case of the Sydney Islamic Charity Projects Association. The Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj el Din al-Hilali, accused the ICPA in early November of radical extremism and links to the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister, and called on the government to investigate them. When they "dobbed each other in", Ouba explained, "it had little to do with preventing terrorism but much to do with political or personal revenge ... Under such intense conditions, it would be highly unlikely that any truth can be discovered."
Ouba added: "A real remedy, as most people with a conscience would agree, would be to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Attacking Muslim lives overseas, and the civil rights and human rights of Muslims back at home, will only increase the risk of any future terrorist act ... and cause intense marginalisation and alienation in the community."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, November 23, 2005.
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