http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/programs/s1453728.htm
Last Updated 6/09/2005 4:35:00 PM AUSTRALIA: Muslim party established In Canberra, an application has been lodged to register what would be Australia's first Muslim politcal party. The "Best Party of Allah" claims it wants to show that Muslims are willing to integrate into Australian political life. Listen | Audio Help Marion Macgregor reports. MACGREGOR: Coming just over a week after Australia's prime minister, John Howard, called a bridge-building summit with Muslim leaders, news of the country's first Muslim political party is bound to create controversy. At the last census taken in 2001, more than 281,000 people, around 1.5 percent of Australia's population, identified themselves as Muslims. But the founder of the Best Party of Allah, Kurt Kennedy, says that number is closer to half a million and growing. And he says they want their voices heard. KENNEDY: We hope to dispel all the myths and misconceptions and misunderstanding relating to the people who believe in Allah. We do appreciate the value of the democratic system. It's a fair system, it allows people to elect the leaders of their choice, unlike other countries. MACGREGOR: Why do you need your own party to do that? KENNEDY: That's part and parcel of democracy you know. We don't like the existing parties. We have to have our own voice. We have our views about certain things. We're not happy with Australia sending troops overseas, killing people who may be relatives of Australians living in Australia. MACGREGOR: Some people might see setting up a political party such as this as provocative in this current climate. What do you say to that? KENNEDY: It's not provocative at all. And there's no time like now to act. And we shouldn't be hesitant in expressing our views. MACGREGOR: How many Muslims or followers of Islam in Australia do you think will support your party? KENNEDY: I hope the vast majority of them. Sensible, honest, hard-working people who have been silent for quite a while, we want to have their view, which is moderate. Follow the middle path, not too extreme. MACGREGOR: Will the party tolerate different views on things like wearing headscarves at school? KENNEDY: Of course we respect the right of people to choose what they wear. We're not out here to ban people from drinking alcohol, ban them from eating pork, or ban them from engaging in gambling. But what we're saying is, we would be introducing incentives to lower the incidence of these behaviours or activities. MACGREGOR: Kurt Kennedy. The Best Party of Allah plans to go on to become a national party, and Kurt Kennedy believes they'll have no problem attracting the 500 members needed. But the head of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Yasser Soliman, won't be one of them. He says most Muslims to be regarded as fellow Australians and nothing else. SOLIMAN: I have no problem with Muslims being in politics or being politicians. That's not the issue at all, there's Christians there, and there's probably people from no faith and then there's all sorts of people from the whole spectrum. But I do have a problem when people carry the attitude that they're there to represent only one part of the Australian community. I mean it's important that politicians lead for everybody. Otherwise you start getting people to polarize, groups in the community to polarize. MACGREGOR: Do you think then it poses the risk of a backlash? SOLIMAN: I really hope not. I don't think it'll have much attraction to the Muslim community, this political party being proposed. It hasn't been discussed with the Muslim community. And the people who are mentioned on the website being behind it are not people that we know on the landscape. We don't know what their history is, or what their ideas really are. And so it will achieve getting controversy out there. There'll be controversy in the media and there'll be concern in the wider community, but amongst this, the Muslim community is not really aware of the thinking behind it. MACGREGOR: If a national Muslim political party were to form, how easy would it be to accommodate and reflect the views of all Australian Muslims? SOLIMAN: It wouldn't be that easy and you would need to have extensive representation in all states. I mean basically the Muslim community from over 70 different ethnic backgrounds and so on. And we're still discovering each other. It is difficult for anyone to come and say "I represent the Muslim community". [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. 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