Waging a cultural revolutionary war

Howard has rarely shown much sophistication in his understanding of Australia’s non-Western cultures. One of his former staffers, conservative columnist Gerard Henderson, commented on this in the Melbourne Age on May 25, 2004. Henderson wrote of “the one significant blot on [Howard’s] record in public life … a certain lack of empathy in dealing with individuals with whom he does not identify at a personal level: for example, Asian Australians in the late 1980s and asylum seekers in the early 21st century”.

Howard has repeatedly claimed Muslim migrants to be a new wave of migration, separate from Asian and European migration waves of the mid to late 20th centuries. This is historical revisionism at its worst, and most unbecoming of a leader so intent on our school children being taught “accurate” history.

One needn’t be a professor of history or demography to know that Muslims have been represented in all major waves of migration during the 20th century. For instance, post-war European migration included significant numbers of Yugoslav, Albanian, Turkish, Cypriot and Middle Eastern Muslim migrants.

The first book on Islamic theology published in Australia was authored by Imam Imamovic, a Brisbane-based writer from the former Yugoslavia who wrote his book in the early part of the 20th century. The first mosque built in Sydney, known as the Sydney Mosque, was established by Turks in the Inner-Western suburb of Erskenville during the 1950’s.

On ABC TV’s Four-Corners aired to coincide with the September 11 attacks, Howard repeats his claim that a small section of Muslim communities refuses to integrate. He goes further, saying: “And I would like the rest of the Islamic community to join the rest of the Australian community in making sure that the views and attitudes of that small minority do not have adverse consequences.”

Howard’s ambiguous reference to “adverse consequences” is most unhelpful. His inability to identify precisely what these consequences are means he cannot identify exactly how “the rest of the Australian community” have been working.

Presuming adverse consequences means security threats, Howard’s comments reflect a profound and fundamental ignorance of efforts made by Muslim communities to combat extremism, including individual Muslims reporting suspicious behaviour to authorities. Howard’s views contrast with those expressed by law enforcement officials (including Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty) that Muslim efforts have been crucial in catching suspects and averting terrorist attacks.

Perhaps the real problem is that Howard insists putting ordinary Muslims in a lose-lose situation. He has hand-picked a small number of Muslims to advise him as part of a “Muslim Community Reference Group”. His choice of Muslims is dominated by men of his own generation who are generally as out-of-touch with mainstream Muslims as he is.

Howard’s choice of Muslim advisers is reflective of his choice of Muslim “leaders” joining him for a summit in August 2005. Howard’s leaders were dominated by first generation migrant males of Howard’s age group, men who routinely exclude and alienate women and youth from community management roles.

It seems Howard wants to have the right to select which Muslims he talks to, and then reserves the right to criticise all Muslims should his chosen Muslims say the wrong things. If Howard were genuine about involving Muslim communities in decision-making on combating extremism, he might appoint mainstream Muslims who have made their mark on mainstream Australia, even if it means appointing people who will effectively challenge his views on culture and security.

If Howard were serious about national security, he might also consider following the lead of his Deputy. Peter Costello has shown a far more sophisticated understanding of the relationship between culture and national security. Costello understands it isn’t the wrong culture that presents a security threat. Rather, it is the absence of genuinely Islamic culture which is the problem.

In his February address to the Sydney Institute, Costello spoke of young Muslims in “a twilight zone where the values of their parents’ old country have been lost but the values of the new country not fully embraced”.