Yesterday, federal opposition leader Kevin Rudd was demanding that the government revoke Muslim convert and journalist Yvonne Ridley’s visa. Today, he is demanding that Muslim leaders sack Sheikh Taj ad-Din al-Hilaly now rather than wait three months. He isn’t even in government and already he’s trying to tell Muslims what to do.
Meanwhile, federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd said today the muslim cleric must urgently be removed as Australia’s mufti.
Mr Rudd said most Australian muslims would like to see the controversial cleric sacked.
We have a situation where a council of imams, representing a large majority of the Muslim communities in this country, have convened and decided to wait three months before acting. However, Kevin Rudd, a politician whose connection with the Muslim community seems almost non-existent, arrogates to himself the right to tell the world what Muslims want even if it means contradicting the conclusion their own leaders have reached.
“It’s time for Sheik al Hilaly to go and it’s time that that happened as a matter of urgency.”
Perhaps, it is a matter of urgency for Mr Rudd and the ALP. It’s a matter of urgency because the last thing the ALP wants, with an election approaching and Sheikh Taj continuing to be in the media, is for the government to be reminding voters of the role of Rudd’s own party in creating the position of mufti and filling it with Sheikh Taj in the first place.
Leaving aside Kevin Rudd’s opportunistic heckling, reform is taking place and the recent meeting of Australian imams did take steps to resolve the situation. Of course, it might not suit Mr Rudd’s election strategy but that’s a problem for him to resolve. As a matter of urgency.
UPDATE: After the mufti appeared on Iranian television calling on the “Islamic world to stand in the trenches with the Islamic Republic of Iran which possesses the might and the power”, the Minister for Immigration has suggested the mufti might want to think about whether he would rather live elsewhere.
10 comments ↓
Who does Rudd think he is? Instead of trying to reorganise the Muslim community, he should focus on continuing to try to reorganise the solar system to suit his television engagements.
And one last point before I got to sleep. Why do politicians think they have the right to tell any Australian what to think or do? I was brought up to believe politicans were our servants and they are meant to represent us not influence or control us. Secondly, isn’t there a seperation of powers in Australia that is meant to keep politicans from meddling in religious affairs?
I can understand Howard saying this (but I don’t agree with him) because he’s the PM and I suppose he has a right to talk about these things. But why should the Muslim community listen to a leader of the opposition who probably won’t even win the next election anyway. He’s a nobody.
If Rudd is serious about the Hilali issue, he should apologise to the entire Muslim community for his party working to foist this joker on all of us. We’re the victims here. If it wasn’t for the ALP giving the guy citizenship and coming up this mufti stuff, we wouldn’t have to read the news today that Hilaly has turned up on Tehran, of all the frikkin’ places in the world, and is doing PR for the Iranian regime.
We all know the ALP agrees with saying sorry for the sins of the past so they shouldn’t have a problem finding the words to say sorry to the Muslim community. If Rudd does that then maybe we can take him seriously when he talks.
HRG: The dawn ceremony thing appears to be a hoax. I believe Seven and the Sunrise program have backed up Rudd in denying it was really discussed.
Ali: I doubt Rudd will apologise because that would mean an admission of his party’s pivotal role in the whole thing and allow the government to link every future Sh Taj controversy directly to Rudd and his attempts to win the next election. It’s a nice idea though. It does, of course, demonstrate a certain hypocrisy that Rudd would piously order the Muslim community to sack a leader that his own organisation helped keep in Australia from a position that his own organisation helped create.
[…] Climate change is still doing the rounds of the ridges, as is education and electioneering. On the electioneering front, the folks at Muslim blog Austrolabe have an interesting piece on Kevin Rudd’s entry into the (multi) culture wars. Some interesting education posts by Professor Harry Clarke, too, who tackles one of the thorniest issues confronting schools: there are no doubt some very bad teachers out there, yet they are paid the same - and receive identical perks - to good teachers. How is it possible to reward the latter for their efforts? Harry’s thoughts are here and here. […]
[…] As Austrolabe points out, yesterday the presumptuous Kevvie was demanding that the government revoke Muslim convert and journalist Yvonne Ridley’s visa. Avoiding a possible rodential wedge and inconvenient regurgitations of the past, today Kevvie called for Hilaly “who’s gone out there and defended pack rapists” to be removed as Whorestralian Mufti immediately rather than wait three months. […]
You (plural) might disagree with Rudd’s comments, but you surely aren’t serious in saying that he has no right to make them! Especially immediately following the demaning Phillips’ right to make speeches in Australia! Get a grip.
He should say anything that he likes, but I don’t think Muslims should put any store in his opinions
Frank,
He has every moral right to make any statement he so desires (although strictly speaking, under Australian law, he doesn’t have a constitutionally guaranteed right).
Aside from the moral right to do so, I would in fact prefer that he did make statements he so desires to make because it is one of the easiest ways to discover what his desires are. This is obviously necessary information in making political decisions vis-a-vis the New and Improved Catholicised Labor Party.
From SMH today
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