Author: Andrew Bolt
Publication: Herald and Weekly
Times
Date: May 30, 2004
URL: http://members.optushome.com.au/jimball_one/Racism-is-not-all-one-way-Andrew-Bolt.htm
It is so self-congratulatingly easy
for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to accuse us of racism
towards asylum seekers.
But now HREOC admits that a good
number of those asylum seekers - particularly Muslims - are themselves
racist, persecuting others who don't share their faith.
It's a pity it doesn't then ask
the obvious question in its new report, Last Resort?: Is it wise for a
largely Christian land to let in people who hate Christians and other non-Muslims?
Let's be clear: Many Muslims in
fact get along fine with Christians, Jews and others. Not all asylum seekers
are racist.
But now let me quote from HREOC's
report on its inquiry into children in our detention centres.
A Last Resort? cites many witnesses
who confirm that Muslims in most detention centres have persecuted Christians
and Sabian Mandaeans, people of a Middle Eastern faith that borrows from
Christianity.
In three centres, the persecution
was so bad that non-Muslims had to be given protection.
For instance, A Last Resort? notes:
"A Christian mother reported to the South Australian child protection agency
that she was persecuted by Muslims in the detention centre because of her
religious beliefs.
"They view her as unclean and she
was assaulted by a Muslim detainee when she tried to pass food to him while
she was working in the detention centre kitchen."
A Last Resort? continues: "When
the Inquiry visited Curtin, Port Hedland and Woomera, Sabian Mandaean families
complained about their treatment at the hands of some Muslim detainees
housed in the same compounds.
"As well as physical assaults, Sabian
Mandaean families complained of verbal abuse (being called 'untouchable'
and 'unclean')."
A priest said Sabian Mandaean children
at Woomera "are constantly subjected to verbal harassment by both adults
and peers . . .
"It is not uncommon for the Muslim
child to be instructed by his or her parents to inform the (Mandaean) child
that the (Mandaean) is not to touch the Muslim, nor to share food, or to
be in any sort of contact."
In Woomera, one mother said she
tried to fit in with Muslim families, but "she and her children felt so
harassed that (the centre's staff) eventually moved them to a different
compound for their own safety".
South Australia's Human Services
Department told HREOC another family felt "ostracised/ persecuted within
the centre because they belong to John the Baptist Church".
"The family report that the children
are called names, pushed around and taunted. The parents are not accepted
by 'social groups' in camp because they are considered 'dirty, unclean
because (they) aren't Muslim'. Other detainees won't eat with the family
in the shared food hall."
Sabian Mandaeans in Port Hedland
also "agreed to be housed separately because the situation became dangerous".
As the Sabian Mandaean Association told HREOC: "They were threatened with
death, basically."
In Baxter, the Immigration Department
had to move 12 families from "minority religions" to a separate compound.
"Some families stated that they
felt safe for the first time," HREOC said.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Muslim Association,
whose boss is the spokesman for the Grand Mufti of Australia, objected
to Christian priests converting Muslims in detention centres. How dare
Christians interfere with "the preservation of (Muslims') original religion
and culture"?
After telling us this and much more,
A Last Resort? suggests some solutions - perhaps "educational programs
for children on the importance of tolerance" or "training for detainees
and staff setting out how to treat people of different religions and the
consequences of the failure to do so under Australian law".
Good Lord, is that all the protection
we can hope for as we let in people with such intolerance of non-believers?
Now that we're importing this hatred, can HREOC urgently investigate the
rights of Australians to protect our open culture and easy-going ways?
bolta@heraldsun.com.au
