Australia is undergoing steady Islamization, the latest being the demand for Sharia law by president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC).
Muslims demand Sharia in Australia
In a recent article in islammonitor.org, Dan Zaremba writes:
"So Muslims do demand Sharia in Australia after all. And they lie about this fact with straight face and without a blink. Take Ikebal Patel for example, who -- after the peaceful ADL (Australian Defense League) protest in Melbourne -- strongly denied that Muslims wish to have Sharia officially recognized in Australia."
It is a familiar occurrence that whenever Muslims in a non-Muslim country sense that the government or the ruling party play soft with their demands, often to capture their votes, they start demanding more and more unfair, even illegal, concessions and privileges. Some of such demands are:
a) Sharia law as a parallel judicial system for the Muslims.
b) Shariah banking in major banks.
c) Halal meat sold without consumer knowledge in supermarkets.
d) Schools gradually phasing out Christmas celebrations.
e) Special washing and toilet facilities for Muslims in schools and universities.
f) Ongoing demands for dedicated prayer areas in institutions and work places.
g) Separate swimming pools for Muslim women and many more.
Muslims in Australia is a small minority religious grouping, constituting about 1.71% of the total population. But the Labour government of Australia, led by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard, has started appeasing Muslims in a big way.
 Ikebal Patel |
And Muslims have duly started demanding Sharia law for themselves in Australia. The agitation has been led by Ikebal Patel, the president of the Australian Federation Islamic Councils (AFIC). While he denies that Australian Muslims want Sharia law on one side, on the other he has said: being a Muslim, he has the right to live by Sunna (Prophet’s tradition) and laws ordained by Allah contained in the Koran. No one can force him to abide by manmade laws or law of ignorance.
Amidst this rising demand for Sharia law in Australia and creeping Islamization of Australia's education system and food industry etc., members of the Australian Defense League (ADL) held a demonstration in Melbourne on May 15, 2011. A report in The Sun on 15 May 2011 said:
About 40 Australian Defence League (ADL) members, including women dressed in mock hijabs, protested in Melbourne's Federation Square today over issues such as the certification of halal meat and concern sharia law would be introduced. ADL supporters clashed with Left-wing protesters as the group held its first local rally, sparking a warning from the Baillieu Government that bigotry would not be tolerated. A small team of police initially kept the two groups apart, but ADL supporters were forced to end their protest early when activists encircled them and tore up placards. The ADL is an offshoot of the English Defence League, which has staged demonstrations in areas of high Muslim concentration in the UK. Protest organiser Martin Brennan claimed the group had 1400 members but denied it was anti-Muslim. "We are not racist whatsoever' we are against radical Islam infiltrating Australia," he said.
 ADL rally, Melboure |
The ADL demonstration made Ikebal Patel soften his demand saying: “The group was provocative and wrong to believe that most Australian Muslims wanted to bring in sharia law.”
"It's of great concern that anyone is out there trying to disrupt the peaceful social fabric of Australia," he added.
Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Nazeem Hussein said the ADL's views were uninformed and saddening.
State Multicultural Affairs Minister Nick Kotsiras said the Government did not tolerate racism, bigotry or the incitement of hatred. "Activities which undermine the multicultural harmony of Victoria will be dealt with swiftly," he said.
The ADL protest was swamped by the much bigger group of activists and unionists, who shouted anti-racism slogans.
Anti-racism protester Mick Armstrong, from Socialist Alternative, said the ADL was trying to copy the tactics of its British counterpart. "They have had their protest and we have ended it," Kotsiras said. But the ADL members hailed their first protest as "small but successful", claiming that it has "started the ball rolling".
Demand for Islamic schools
Unlike other immigrant communities in the West, Muslims start opening Islamic schools, aka madrassas, for Muslim children as a parallel system of education. And Australia is no stranger to this with many Islamic schools across the country and the demand for establishing more such schools is increasing ever more. According to a recent report in Melton News on Apr 26, 2011, Imam Buksh, the business manager of Iqra Grammar College, has said that Melton Shire would be the ideal location for a new Islamic school. The college has applied to Melton Council for a permit to build a private Islamic co-education primary school in Kurunjang. "There are a lot of people living there. We have Muslims in that area. There is a demand for supply," Mr Buksh said. While the application sought for a building for accommodating 80 pupils, he said there could be up to 1,000 pupils educated at Iqra campuses in Melton in future years.
Iqra College was established in 2006 in Minto, New South Wales, and there are plans for expansion in Melbourne. "We want our colleges everywhere in the world," Mr Buksh said. "There are already 35 Muslim schools in Australia. Education is very important to us. The proposed campus on Gisborne-Melton Road would offer a range of academic subjects, as well as Islamic religious education and Arabic language classes", he added.
Jihadi activities by Muslims against Australia
In the past, Jihad has been a standard paradigm for Islamic conquest of new lands for their Islamization. At the present time, Islamization, particularly in Western countries, are spearheaded by the wider Muslim community through demands of Islamic concessions. As is seen all over the world, Jihadi violence is also an active component of the Islamization effort. As the government and law enforcement agencies in Western countries play soft or turned a blind to avoid cultural sensitivities, Muslims intensify their jihadi activities. It has been mentioned in a previous article that Muslims in Auburn, Sydney, have sprayed a Hindu temple with bullets, apparently in their bid to take possession of plot for building a mosque, but the Australian police has not taken resolute measures to arrest the culprits and bring them to justice on the ground that such actions would instigate more violence.
Recently on May 27, Muslims attacked Jewish students at the University of Melbourne as they assembled to celebrate the Israel Independence Day. Students for Palestine, and the Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth (FAMSY), who organized a protest rally against the celebration, attacked the party involving music and dance at the University lawn. Stereo playing Israeli music was vandalized and a Jewish student was attacked.
Despite the growing incidence of violence against Jews, mainly by Muslims, the incident failed to get any coverage in the media. Police officers are said to have removed two attackers but nobody was charged for the attack and vandalism.
Plotting suicide attack on army base in Sydney
Apart from the above-mentioned recent incidents of violence by Muslims, a Jihad plot was hatched by Somali and Lebanese Muslims from Melbourne to orchestrate a suicide attack on the Holsworthy military base in Sydney.
In the trial in a Melbourne court, "officials said the men, some of whom had links to Somali-based militant groups, were motivated by a belief that Islam was under attack from the West. They were planning to send a group of men armed with automatic rifles into the base and to keep on shooting until they were killed, prosecutors said..Chief prosecutor Nick Robinson said one of the accused had visited Somalia to seek a fatwa - or religious decree - for the attack”, says a report.
One of the culprits, Mahmoud Fattal, confessed to the investigating officer and said, "If I find way to kill the army, I swear to Allah the great I'm going to do it."
Lakemba Police Station Shooting
The Sydney suburb of Lakemba, the most notorious of Muslim-dominated areas in Australia, which also hosts the famous "uncovered meat imam" Taj al-Hilali's Lakemba mosque, has become a den of Islamic fundamentalists and criminals for engaging in political power struggles and turf battles over Islamic doctrines and other forms of organized crimes, including car theft, drug dealing and drug-related crimes, kidnappings and abductions, intimidation, contract killings, assaults involving grenades and so on.
On Sunday 1 November 1998, Saleh Jamal, a Lakemba based criminal and two accomplices conducted a drive-by shooting at Lakemba Police Station at 01:30. In all, 13 Shots were fired. Five policemen narrowly missed death. Reacting to State government and community alarm and the novel experience of being the target of drive-by shooting by terrorists, the NSW Police Service finally launched Task Force Gain and Operation Vikings in 2003 and 2004. Saleh Jamal was arrested and charged as the key shooter and driver in the Lakemba police station drive-by shooting. Later on, while out on bail, he travelled to Lebanon on a fake Jordanian passport in 2004. Upon his return, he was jailed on May 28, 2010 for the police station shooting।
Conclusion
Unlike the Western countries of Europe and North America, Australia is not so much in the news involving violent and criminal activities by Muslims. But this discussion makes it evident that with the Muslim population increasing in Australia, Islamization is also occurring like elsewhere with the concomitant increase in their violent criminal and terrorist activities. And unfortunately the Labour Government of PM Julia Gillard is taking a softer attitude towards these criminal activities, while trying to bring in more Muslim immigrants to Australia.
References:
[6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12064988
[7] http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/hansArt.nsf/V3Key/LA19981110022
[8] Watch videos:
ADL Australian Defence League
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QFjIHBIbaE
Australian Defence League - The Call to Action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJOo3Uhclk
Australian Defence League: Time To Make A Stance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-eQtIwITMQ