First Muslim Party Registers in Australia
|
A library photo of the meeting between Howard and Muslim leaders. (Reuters) |
SYDNEY, September 5, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A political group applied Monday, September 5, to register in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as Australia's first Muslim party.
"We don't anticipate a left or right wing approach - we will take a center, moderate view," Kurt Kennedy, the founder of the Best Party of Allah, told the news agency Australian Associated Press (AAP).
Kennedy, a Vietnam-born Muslim revert and candidate in the ACT assembly elections in 2004, said the party aims to provide a national voice for Muslims in Australia.
The party currently claims more than 100 members.
Kennedy hopes the party would recruit up to 500 members so it can register nationally.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) recently said that the number of Australians embracing Islam has dramatically increased since the 9/11 attacks.
There are some 300,000 Muslims in Australia, making up 1.5 percent of the countrys 20 million people.
Anti-Extremism
Kennedy said the party will stick to the rules of Shari`ah and stand up firmly to extremism and people inciting violence and hatred.
"We totally reject people who would kill people indiscriminately, you know, as violence for its own sake and that's the story, that's the end of it," he told national broadcaster ABC.
Kennedy does not believe extremists would try to infiltrate the fledging party.
"People with extremist views don't necessarily want to participate in dialogue through peaceful means in the democratic political system," he told the AAP.
"But there's a constitution and a process where people fill in an application form and the secretary can decide whether to enlist them or reject them like any other political party."
Prime Minister John Howard met Australian Muslim leaders in August to discuss ways to prevent the spread of extremism in the wake of the London attacks.
Muslim leaders pledged during the meeting to defend the country against terrorism, disowned Osama bin Laden and accepted differences with the government over the Iraq invasion.
But many Australian Muslims have decried recent anti-terror measures, which include detaining people on terror-related suspicion for up to seven days and questioning them for up to 48 hours without charges.
They maintain that security measures create a climate of fear and apprehension among the Muslim minority in the country
Send instant messages to your online friends http://asia.messenger.yahoo.com
Send instant messages to your online friends http://asia.messenger.yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of Hidayahnet unless sanctioned or approved otherwise.
If your mailbox clogged with mails from Hidayahnet, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
- Visit your group "hidayahnet" on the web.
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
