Costello to violent
Muslims: "GET OUT"
"Before becoming an Australian you will be asked to subscribe to certain values. If
you have strong objection to those values, don't come to Australia."
Last year, however, Abdul Nacer Ben Brika, a radical cleric in Australia's second-largest
city, Melbourne, was asked in an interview whether he thought Australian Muslims had a
responsibility to adhere to Australian law. He replied: "This is a big problem. There
are two laws - there is an Australian law and there is an Islamic law."
(CNSNews.com) - Australian Muslims already unhappy with Prime Minister John Howard's
criticism about Islamic radicalism are bristling at even tougher comments from the man
likely to succeed him, who says any Muslim immigrant who can't accept Australian values
should leave.
Anyone wanting to live under Islamic law (shari'a) might feel more comfortable living in
countries where it is applied, such as Saudi Arabia or Iran, federal Treasurer Peter
Costello said in an address to the Sydney Institute, a think tank.
In a pledge of allegiance, immigrants taking on Australian citizenship declare: "I
pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose
rights and liberties I respect and whose laws I will uphold and obey."
Costello said that anyone "who does not acknowledge the supremacy of civil law laid
down by democratic processes cannot truthfully take the pledge of allegiance. As such they
do not meet the pre-condition for citizenship."
Any Muslim planning to immigrate to Australia should first consider its values.
"Before entering a mosque visitors are asked to take off their shoes," Costello
said. "This is a sign of respect. If you have a strong objection to walking in your
socks don't enter the mosque.
"Before becoming an Australian you will be asked to subscribe to certain values. If
you have strong objection to those values, don't come to Australia."
The debate in Australia over Islam and its more radical adherents has been picking up
steadily since 9/11, becoming more urgent after 88 Australians were killed when Islamists
bombed an Indonesian tourist resort in 2002, and focusing increasingly on homegrown
extremists after last July's London bombings, carried out by British-born Muslims.
Costello, who is widely expected to take over the leadership of Howard's conservative
Liberal party within the next couple of years, said anyone applying for citizenship who
rejects the notion of living under a democratic legislature and obeying the laws it makes,
poses a threat to the rights and liberties of others, and should be refused citizenship.
If foreign-born Muslims who have already become Australian citizens, having not been able
honestly to take the citizenship pledge, they should be stripped of their Australian
nationality if they also have citizenship of some other country.
In cases where Muslims were born in Australia and did not have dual citizenship, there was
a difficulty.
"In these cases we have on our hands citizens who are apparently so alienated that
they do not support what their own country stands for. Such alienation could become a
threat to the rights and liberties of others."
Costello said for such Muslims it was important that the government engage respected
leaders for help in explaining Australian values.
"Ultimately, however, it is important that they know that there is only one law and
it is going to be enforced whether they acknowledge its legitimacy or not."
Costello also made a point of saying that among Australian values were tolerance of
difference and the protection of the rights and liberties of all.
While he did not like artworks mocking Christianity, galleries that displayed them
"should be able to practice their offensive taste without fear of violence or a
riot."
Muslims, too, must recognize that their opposition to newspapers publishing pictures
depicting Mohammed does not justify violence.
'Raving about jihad'
Costello's comments come amid a debate over earlier ones by Howard, who criticized a
radical minority of Muslims whom he said "rave on about jihad" and hold
"extreme attitudes" towards women.
Six million migrants have made Australia home since World War II . Howard said Australia
had never before had to deal with newcomers bent on overturning its core beliefs and
values. "It is not a problem that we've ever faced with other immigrant communities,
who become easily absorbed by Australia's mainstream."
Adopt Our Values or Go Home, Foreign-Born Muslims Told
By Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com International Editor February 24, 2006 |
