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| Southeast Asia |
| Mixed reactions greet Aussie anti-terror ad campaign |
| 2002-12-29 |
| Sydney Morning Herald Religious and community leaders yesterday expressed varying opinions on the Australian Government's terrorist warning advertisements. This should be pretty predictable... Amjad Ali Mehboob, chief executive officer of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said: "There will be a tremendous backlash. We will bear the brunt." Displaying vigilance against bloodthirsty Muslims is discriminatory.... Mr Mehboob said he was pleased the advertisement did not mention any specific group, but "we are all aware that it is the Islamic community which is linked with acts of terrorism". It would "increase discrimination and exacerbate the current situation of vilification, harassment and attacks on Muslims, particularly women". Why women? It's the men who wear the turbans. The He said Muslims believed every citizen "has a role to play against terrorism", but all the advertisement did was give a hotline number and encourage people to dob in each other. "Really, it's a political ad for the Government, telling us how much they are spending on our safety." Not that it's true or anything... The Premier, Mr Carr, said Australians must guard against Muslims becoming the victims of hoax calls. But they also have to guard against them killing people and trying to subvert their neighbors... The president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy, described the advertisement as vague and probably counter-productive. The central message, be alert but not alarmed, seemed to be saying "Panic, but don't panic", Mr Murphy said. "There is no clear advice on terrorism. Telling people to ring a hotline isn't going to solve anything." I'd call the message "be on guard, but don't act like an idiot," so I guess it must be open to intrpretation, if you try hard enough... Mr Murphy said asking Australians to become informants ran the risk that "some elements of the community will see it as a green light to become vigilantes. We've already got a real problem with discrimination, and our fear is that the advertisement will encourage more of it, and some people will see it as a green light to take matters into their own hands." If you stand on your head and look at it sideways, you might be able to interpret it that way. If you're already predisposed to doing such things. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 the delightfully named Amjad Ali Mehboob |
| Posted by: Frank G 2002-12-29 12:57:49 |