Peter Reith has made the link between the Tampa boat people and the catastrophe in the United States. Being one of the ludicrously out of touch minority I realise I now am, I had thought the atrocity may have softened our attitude to the boat people – they are, after all, fleeing terror. But no, now they’re terrorists trying to infiltrate our country.

Today, Reith said on Network Sky TV:

 

“They (our borders) are certainly too easily penetrated and that is why we have been taking a very strong stand on this issue … Jim Kelly, I should say, who is the number two to Colin Powell for our region was in Jakarta only 10 days ago saying that it was very important to tighten up on entry into Indonesia otherwise it could be used as a launching pad for terrorist activities. And that was before, you know, the last couple of horrific days. So those issues, security and border protection go hand in hand, there’s no two ways about it and that’s certainly one of the reasons that the Howard Government is taking a very strong stand on the issue.”

 

 

Immigration minister Phillip Ruddock came close to making the link yesterday morning on Radio National.

 

REPORTER: Certainly some of the talkback calls this morning has seen a lot of hatred being expressed towards the Muslim community. Now, there’s also been reference made to the asylum seeker issue. In hindsight to you regret the actions of the past couple of weeks now?

 

RUDDOCK: Not at all. I mean the issue here is the issue of our national sovereignty. Our capacity to be able to determine who is able to access Australia and who is able to remain here. And those issues go to the questions of character and security…

 

REPORTER: But surely you would accept that the actions, over the past couple of weeks by the government, has increased the level of anxiety amongst the Muslim community? Has increased the level of attacks against the Muslim community? Surely the government must bear some responsibility here?

 

RUDDOCK: Well, I simply make the point no comments have been made by me, or by government ministers, adverse to any element of our community.

 

ends

 

No, the government you just rode on the coat tails of racism, and said nothing to quell it.

 

But John Howard, of all people, refused to make the link in a press conference before he left the United States, and made a strong statement calling for racial calm in Australia.

 

HOWARD: We all think that there’s a patch in the world called Australia that’s a little different from everywhere else, but its not really and we have to understand that we have to take precautions and accept approaches that we otherwise would not have wanted.

 

JOURNALIST: Does this episode have implications for our refugee

 

HOWARD: Look I’m not seeking in any way to link those two things.

 

Later, Howard said: “There are probably several hundred thousands of Australian-Lebanese and other Arab heritages. And they are good citizens and they are entitled to the same decent treatment and respect that we extend to all of our citizens, and I hope, speaking from, however inadequately, from a Christian perspective, I ask all Australians to extend to their fellow countrymen and women – whether they are of Islamic faiths, Christian faiths, Jewish faiths, or no faith at all tolerance, decency and inclusion.”

 

“We are a harmonious society. I want to keep it that way, and the people of Middle Eastern extraction in Australia, and the ordinary Australian citizens of that extraction should not be judged by the dastardly deeds of a few. I encourage everyone to re-double their sense of acceptance and tolerance towards people of different backgrounds and different ethnicities. And we have, by and large, been fortunate in that respect…

 

A journalist then asked an inaudible question. Howard replied: “Jim, in answer to another question in another context, I said I didn’t want to link two things and it is just not something I want to do.”

 

As racial and religious tensions threaten to escalate into world war, the government’s failure to calm them during the Tampa crisis – and even to inflame them now – is scandalous. John Howard’s attitude now is striking.

 

This edition explores the matter. To those of you who’ve emailed saying you’d like to shoot all Arabs or the like, I won’t publish such material. You should direct your emails to one of the many other media forums which will.

 

Contributors are: Mark Reddan, John Crockett, Julie Vella, Corrie Brodie, Amien Furmie, Clarence Oxford, Jared Madden, Stephen Collins, Con Vaitsas, Karel Zegers, Michael Beecham, Bryan Law, Anton Cook, Tony Cole and David Lim.

 

Mark Redden in Sydney

 

I’m an Australian permanent resident and US citizen. John Howard simply said, “Let’s be their friend.” Thanks for that.

 

I rode home from work, still a bit numb from all of it, didn’t want to read the newspaper on the seat next to me. A man of Middle East descent also got on and you could feel the tension in the bus. I had some as well.

 

He found a seat near the back of the bus, pretty close to mine. I watched as a mother whispered in her son’s ear while pointing at the man. It made me feel real bad for him, and for the way I and others were feeling towards him.

 

A young lady came and sat next to him, which seemed to amaze everyone. Good on her for that. It convinced me that I was wrong, that I can’t let bitterness overwhelm me, that I too can “Overcome evil with good.”

 

John Crockett

 

I was down in the carpark putting the shopping into the boot and two young men of Middle Eastern appearance were walking towards their car and I had to resist the urge to stare and so I turned away. Twenty four hours of unrelenting American news reports and I feel compelled to turn away from my fellow citizens.

 

What is happening Margo?

 

 

Julie Vella

 

I am a High School teacher in Campbelltown (in Western Sydney ) and I found a desk with large graffiti letters saying “Kill All Arabs”. I was shocked to read such a message from my mostly apolitical students and I am worried that fringe loonies will suddenly assume a licence to hate.

 

 

Corrie Brodie

 

I am, like so many others absolutely horrified by the terrorist attack on the US. However I am extremely frightened and saddened that our point of view is not shared by all here in Australia.

 

I work with people from the Middle East and yesterday they openly admitted that the attack was reason to celebrate and to quote one “…a miracle, an act of God”. I have no way to comprehend this amount of hatred that obviously exists towards the Western World or towards any group people.

 

The people who want us to let ‘refugees’ into this country without any form of system hopefully will think twice. They may believe that they are letting in a flock of sheep, however there are probably a few wolves in sheep skins just waiting to have another attack on Western Society.

 

 

Amien Furmie

 

I have been paying close attention to the responses of the public am dumbfounded by the narrow minded responses from fellow Australians who are labelling Muslims Arabs and refugees as the perpetrators.

 

I am a South African born Muslim and proud of my religion. We as Muslims don’t support suicide in any form, or terrorism – in fact its a sin and these are the words in the Quraan and that’s a fact any Scholar will tell you.

 

Stop showing Palistinians celebrating and get some responses from a diverse background of Muslims and I guarantee they too will condemn this terrorism. America has now seen what damage greed and hatred can cause on their own soil. For years the world have suffered these atrocities, where innocent people of all colours and religions were killed, including Jews, Muslims and others.

 

Now my mother won’t go out in fear of revenge attacks. My son’s daycare teacher has a stand-offish attitude to me now.

 

I read the Quraan daily, I pray, I have an Australian wife who became Muslim and is not covered with a cloak and a tea towel. So please don’t generalise as this will only cause a negative effect. History has made its mistakes of revenge and seen its effects. It made people more angry.

 

It’s time to learn why we are fighting and sort out our differences, or be prepared for more of these disgusting acts from all parts of the globe, including the USA.

 

Clarence Oxford (nom de plume)

 

You and your fellow journalists need to make a collective appeal to your management at Fairfax and other media companies for an immediate cessation of the vilification both racial and religious that is being promoted by Ackerman and others.

 

These are dangerous times and emotions are running red hot. Management of the respective media organizations must take responsibility for what it allows to be published in their newspapers.

 

Today’s column by Piers Ackerman in the Daily Telegraph is truly vile and accuses all Muslims of complicity in the attacks on America. Paddy McGuinness and others at your paper are also engaging in highly dangerous writings which are serving as an open invitation to attack Muslims.

 

Of course these people will deny this but only an idiot would think that their rantings are adding anything of value to the discussions taking place between all people at the moment.

 

We are on the verge of serious violence in this country and it is time for publishers to take responsibility for what they publish.

 

Jared Madden

 

 

These latest attacks herald a new era of terrorist ingenuity and a should be a beacon to all residents and the decision makers of the world that the current rule books are invalid. Who knows how many years that these attacks has been planned!

 

We have been condemned for not accepting the asylum seekers on the ship the Tampa. How do we know that amongst these asylum seekers that there are no terrorists that have been planted to receive asylum status and train themselves here for a terrorist attack?

 

If we cannot be sure why should we accept them? The court was wrong to rule against the government. It should not have stuck its nose into matters of national security. We elect these people to govern overs this beautiful country and make these decisions. Let them do their job!

 

 

Stephen Collins in Singapore

 

I’m very disappointed that you would publish a letter of the type received from A Iman in Fear purporting to balance the account of the tragedy with a secondary perspective.

 

There are absolutely NO moral or other justification for what has taken place. There is NO “other side”to the story. To suggest, or even allow the suggestion otherwise. is an act of moral cowardice.

 

Let’s hope common sense prevails here. Let’s hope that any response is targetted against the guilty and not the innocent. Let’s hope that mindless persecution of Muslim people does not occur.

 

But let us also hope that this serves the purpose of winding back the type of moral/cultural relativism that infects countries such as Australia and blinds them to the absolute rights and wrongs.

 

My advice to A Iman is this: This is a war. Keep your head down and your mouth shut. Diplomats and lawyers have relinquished the center stage stage now. It is warriors who will shape the next decade and beyond.

 

Words are now very cheap.

 

Con Vaitsas, an Australian of Greek descent in Sydney

 

Buying my coffee from the usual haunt this morning, I mentioned the previous nights events and asked the staff how they really felt being of Middle-Eastern origins. One leant over the counter and whispered to me, “What goes around comes around” and his colleagues agreed.

 

Yes, they feel it’s terrible that innocents were killed but would like to see the same compassion also being shown towards people of their own ethnic or religious background when they are involved in massive atrocities. But they said they would never admit this to other customers because they have to make a living.

 

At lunch time I went and on a bench in the park next to 3 construction workers who were talking about the tragedy.

 

I could hear their conversation. One bloke said, “Well the yanks are always sticking their noses everywhere” and another replied, “Lucky we didnt take those reffos, and as for those civil libertarians they should be given a bashing.”

 

“Hold on, what have the Tampa refugees got to do with what happened last night?” I asked

 

You gotta be kidding mate, said the young bloke, those bastards should have been shot. Why should we take those stinking Muslims. Are you going to pay for their upkeep? They don’t speak English, their customs are not like ours, and they bring diseases and are bludgers.

 

As I argued against this, I was asked where I was from. I said I was born here and they said I was not a real Aussie and what country my parents came from?

 

The young guy finally telling me and his mates that white man is supreme and we should kick out and keep out the non-whites. I left after telling him he shouldn’t believe everything he hears and reads in the media and should learn to question things.

 

This evening I arrived home, grabbed my mail and opened one of the envelopes to find another anonymous letter full of vitriol aimed at me and my views because of a recent letter to the editor I wrote supporting the refugees. I wish they would add their names to it. I only want sensible debate.

 

Karel Zegers in Bendigo

 

Two points to ponder.

 

1) Do we in Australia need or want residents or citizens who are part of a religion glorifying or supporting acts like the World Trade Centre? And please don’t mention that some Islamites pretending “abhorrence” over this terrible event. They are just scared and so they should be.

 

2) Terrorists and their allies only understand terror. So lets not pussyfoot but get stuck into them.

 

Or is there anyone who supports the Taliban and Bin-Laden?

 

Michael Beecham

 

I would hate to be a Muslim now in a foreign country. Imagine what it must be like for them always watching their backs now. A big mistake they made for their people those who did this

 

Bryan Law in Cairns

 

What’s at stake here is not just the issue of Tampa refugees or Terrorism in the U.S.. Rather it is the preservation and creation of a fully human way of life for all of us on planet Earth.

 

John Avery and Colin White in Tragedy leap neatly to conclusions and caricature of Islam. Andrew Cave “Tragedy” identifies anti-Arab sentiment in Kuraby. The Middle-East is a logical region to suspect of growing these suicide bombers, but the who and why of it requires more thinking than blaming – especially if we’re going to do something about it.

 

I heard a commentator on Radio National tonight saying that if it came from the Middle-East it is connected to some very ugly historical injustices that are woven into the fabric of that region. He referred to the collapse of the Ottoman empire, the perfidy of the English state during WW2, the establishment of Israel post WW2, and the foreign policy of the U.S. state since the 1970s, including the repeated bombing of Lebanon and Iraq.

 

It’s completely wrong to associate atrocity with any religion in particular. We might as well blame Buddhism for Cambodia, and Christianity for Serbia (to name just two other recent instances of massive bombing and attempted genocide). We’d have to blame Animism for Rwanda. I’d prefer to get the facts, and figure out where the evil actually does come from.

 

One thing I know is we’d have a whole lot less anti-Arab sentiment in the western world today if they weren’t sitting on all that lovely oil we want (cheap).

 

One other thing I know is that we are not doomed to repeat the escalating cycles of violence. Gandhi showed a powerful way forward last century. To Brian Bahnish in Tragedy I’d say Gandhi also said that satyagraha relied on truth to oneself as well as to God. “If you have a sword in your heart, pick it up and use it. Don’t pretend.”

 

You may well be willing to kill to save your sister’s life, but that has always been a phoney question designed to trap conscientious objectors. The real question is “Are you willing to organise to build and enhance your whole community’s life?”

 

Pope Paul 6 said “If you want peace, work for justice.

 

Malcolm X said, on the occasion of President Kennedy’s assassination, “I hear the sounds of chickens coming home to roost”. That phrase has been in my mind all day.

 

The world hasn’t suddenly changed, It’s been heading down this road for quite a while. It’s time to work for justice.

 

 

Anton Cook

 

These boat people – the ones that Kim Howard and John Beazley would turn away – are they not refugees from the oppressive regime now suspected of complicity in perhaps the most gross terrorist atrocity of all time? Time for a humanitarian rethink?

 

Tony Cole

 

I am astounded that so little attention is being given by Tweedledum (Howard) and Tweedledee (Beazley) and by governments throughout the world to the root cause of the problem. We get tough on the asylum seekers but not on their persecutors!

 

Perhaps Howard and Ruddock could sing for the electors (rather than merely enacting) the Gendarmes’ Duet:

“………

When danger looms w’are never there!

But when we meet a helpless woman,

or little boys that do no harm,

we run them in

we run them in

we run them in

we run them in

we show them w’are the bold Gendarmes!!”

 

David Lim

 

I’m not sure what to say. The only thought that comes to mind is that this marks the end of peacetime. So this is how the end of the world starts.

 

This despicable terrorist act marks the end of tolerance, of diversity, of multiculturalism. And it marks the beginning of racial hatred, of mob rule, of racial segregation, of mindless violence and terror.

 

People who are non-white (like me), will not be able to walk in our streets again. We will be actively discriminated against because of the colour of our skin, our race, because we are “terrorists” out to destroy the country. This marks the beginning of paranoia and racial discrimination.

 

So how far will Australia (and the US) go in retaliating against its non-White citizens? Concentration camps for non-whites? Or an Australian-style “final solution” with gas chambers and mass executions?

 

We’ve already seen John Howard, Pauline Hanson and Bob Carr encouraging race-related abuse. How far will they go? How much “non-white” blood will be spilled before enough is enough?

 

I’m afraid, and I’m frightened. I’ve never felt like this before, not even during the whole Pauline Hanson “anti-Asian” race debate. Soon, very soon, the racial persecution will start. Our country will give in to its lust for hatred and revenge. May god have mercy on us all.