Multiculturalism Anyone?

Former Labor leader Mark Latham commented in his regular column in the Australian Financial Review recently that racism was behind the objections to the building of a mosque in Camden in western Sydney.

A reader commented quite curtly and perhaps cryptically (8 Apr 2008) -

Not an original comment and certainly not a constructive one. If so, what is the next step? As Kay rightly put it, (9 April 2008)

Perhaps Layton is one of those who does not want it to work.

Watch out for the Asians, John

Telstra's Phil Burgess has raised a new excuse for keeping out Singapore-owned Optus from the broadband competition. "We're talking about turning over Australia's only nationwide telecommunications network to a consortia run by the Singapore Government. .... that executes people...." he said.

(see
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21883831-2702,00.html)

Burgess' past record on the issue of capital punishment is not known. But cautioning John Howard about an Asian threat is a well proven tactic, one that was successfully used by Qantas when Singapore Airlines wanted to take over the failing Ansett.

Just mention to John Howard about a potential threat from the Asians. It always works.

A Bilingual Encounter on NSW Elections Day

At the polling station of affluent Beecroft for last Saturday's NSW State Elections I watched with some unease a Caucasian woman demanding from an 80-year-old Chinese lady what the Chinese characters were saying on the How To Vote cards the latter was handing out.

As the old lady spoke very little English, I ventured forward to help. After perusing the bilingual material, I reassured the voter that the Chinese scripts were exact translations of the parts in English - how to vote for the Unity Party in the Upper House and in the Lower House. The voter stomped off, not entirely convinced, probably a little suspicious that we were in some kind of collusion.

I am not a supporter of the Unity Party. It claims to be a party promoting multiculturalism but it had often if not invariably given their preferences to the John Howard's party regardless of his past records on multicultural and race issues. In one instance they had even reneged on a preference swap agreement with the Labor Party towards the Elections Day and after the How to Vote cards have been printed, receiving the preferences from Labor but giving theirs to the Liberals! Sadly many new Asian Australians are either ignorant of the rather complex electoral voting system or oblivious of the Unity Party's preferential deals.

Which brings us to the question of why the Unity Party would use this frail 80-year-old who spoke hardly a word of English to hand out election day materials in affluent Beecroft? What do they hope to gain in contesting a lower house seat such as Epping, apart from grabbing some unintended votes from the Asian community for the Liberal Party ?

I believe the Unity Party a party of Asian business people out to establish contacts and do convenient deals with some ultimate private business 0bjectives.

Alliance against .......?

There is a sudden push by John Howard to form security alliances with some of our northern neighbours. One has just been signed with Japan. Suddenly there is a talk about enlisting India into the alliance (see Dennis Shanahan’s article in The Australian today

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21384779-601,00.html) which US Vice President Cheney apparently raised with Howard in his recent trip Down Under after it was rejected by Bush administration. Of course the deputy sheriff could not bring himself to refuse this one.

I learnt from one of Lee Kuan Yew’s speeches many decades ago that when there is a call for an alliance the logical question is “against whom?” Howard carefully dropped the hint by saying that he thought China not be upset. We are all too used to Howard’s dog whistling to know that he usually means what he denies. Shanahan had no qualms about pointing out that an alliance with Japan and India would be an encircling of China.

It would suit the US paranoia about China’s economic growth. But what is there for Australia?

Is it a coincidence that Opposition leader Rudd who is doing spectacularly in the polls despite all the mud slinging, happens to be fluent in Mandarin apart from other things Chinese? Is it a coincidence that Howard’s own constituency may become vulnerable because of the increased number of Chinese and other Asian migrants who would be impressed by Rudd language skills?

Howard is experienced enough to know that China is not going to be bothered by a few gestures for internal consumption. He also knows from experience that he can scare some of his older votes with the old fear of China and of someone like Rudd who can be cast as a Sinophile. He is probably hoping that increasing distrusts of China would ultimately discourage Rudd from using his powerful language weapon in the elections later this year.

The sacrificing of some foreign policies can be a small price to pay to retain one’s power.

TAINTED AUSSIE FLAG

Our leaders from both sides of politics have expressed shock and horror over the banning of the Aussie flag from a Sydney youth music festival Big Day Out. Perhaps they missed those images that were flashed to the TV screens and the Internet for the whole world to see during the shameful events of the Cronulla riots. Here are some as a reminder -

Nowadays, I too get a bit nervous when young people wrapped the Aussie flag come near me. Perhaps the leaders have left it too late to condemn the wrong use of the flag. To many it no longer represents what it used to. Australia no longer represents what she used to. Our Prime Minister had made sure of that over the past decade.

Iemma vs the Sheik

Premier Iemma of NSW must be happy to read that the bizarre Sheik Hilaly is considering contesting against him in the state elections in March.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/shock-showdown-for-iemma/2007/01/20/1169096030968.html

Apart from allowing the people (including the Muslims who make up more than 10% of the voters in the seat) to make a clear choice it it will be an opportunity for the government to debate the issues regarding the Muslim minorities.

Most of all, it puts the Liberal coalition leader Debnam in a quandary - who will he support or oppose ?

New Hanson Hatred

Kay predicted this -



Full article at

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hanson-turns-on-diseased-africans/2006/12/06/1165081010724.html

Peter and the Sheik

Suddenly, the cause of the Cronulla riots has been made clear to all of us, thanks to Mr Peter Costello.

(http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sheik-falls-on-his-sword/2006/10/30/1162056926607.html)

It's all the fault of Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly.

Those beer-swilling drunks, can-throwing blondes and harrassers of young women of Middle Eastern appearances were all stirred by him.

And it was partly Paul Keating's fault too for letting him in twenty years ago. Anyone would have guessed what the Sheik was going to do in October 2006.

The cause of all our troubles are obvious. Especially when the Federal Elections are just round the corner and the polls are looking bad.

Sheikh Hilali

Three letters to think about regarding recent comments by Sheikh Hilali:

If Sheik Hilaly is saying that men are little better than animals, have no control over their basic urges and are at risk of violating others, surely it is they who should stay at home in their rooms.

Gillian Whalley Marrickville

Why he must go

DEAR Sheikh Hilali. As a young Muslim woman, I have had to deal with the ubiquitous news reports that misquote Islam. I avoid trying to "make people understand" because I find reassurance in the belief that negative comments come from those who do not understand Islam. However, I am deeply angered by your views, on one level because they are out of touch with even the most Neanderthal society; on another because they come from a man holding a high position. How sad that you used your platform to preach these ideas. How useless that you hid behind the Arabic language and used a translator to give a different meaning to your words. Those who speak Arabic cringed at this disgusting ploy. Muslims face enough discrimination and misunderstanding. They need positive role models. You are not such a leader, and must resign immediately.
Fatima Abdullatif, Balwyn North

Rape's sad facts

SHEIKH Hilali, I recently completed a subject, Crime and Gender, as part of my law degree. It taught me that most people in Australia agree with you about rape. Even "free" Western democracies blame victims for the attacks. This is evident in the statistics (only one in 10 rapes is reported, only 2 per cent of reported rapes result in conviction). Perhaps you don't know that most females who are raped are aged 10 to 24, with most aged under 14. These young girls do not have big breasts in low-cut tops, they are not pieces of meat on display. Rape is a crime of power. Victims are chosen, based not on how attractive they are but on how easy the attack will be. I suggest you don't talk about things you do not understand.
Elizabeth Gharghori, Ferntree Gully

Cronulla Aftermath

It's too easy to be negative and critical, we see it everywhere including elsewhere in this blog.

Today I have been impressed by the front page article in, of all places, the tabloid Daily Telegraph, on the progress Cronulla and the surf club in particular, have made since last December's riots. Significantly, the surf club has recruited and trained life guards of Middle Eastern background.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20576331-5006009,00.html

Coincidentally, few hours later, I heard on the radio an interview of a Lebanese lady regarding a service in memory of lives lost and sufferings of the Lebanese people in the recent war. The lady organiser commented that they have received numerous messages of condolence including, she pointedly added, one from the Cronulla Surf Club.

Goodonya!

Still on the subject of Aussie values ....

Kay's letter, recently published in the Sydney Morning Herald (4 Sep 2006) :

Courage and Passion

I feel odd that I should begin this blog with a mention about a National Party member of NSW State Parliament for I had always thought that National Party members were just different shades of Pauline Hanson who would go away if ignored.

Today I read about Adrian Piccoli, Member for Murrumbidgee and Shadow Minister for Natural Resources, who had the courage to tell the world including John Howard that the current push for "Australian values" stirs racism. (http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/values-push-stirs-racism-national/2006/09/28/1159337280525.html)

Then I googled him and found another gem - a letter he wrote to a local paper on how he changed his traditional view of gays after he attended a funeral of a gay person. (http://www.rodneycroome.id.au/other_more?id=1566_0_2_0_M18)

What impressed me was the courage and passion he had in expressing those views.

I hope Kim Beazley will find courage and passion just like Adrian Piccoli the next time he stands up against John Howard.