Category: Australia

Government housing projects to blame for radicalization in Australia

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The other day I promised more on the teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing going on in Australia in the wake of the Somali/Lebanese terror plot that security forces foiled there a week ago.

The August 5th issue of Time magazine weighs in with an article that doesn’t tell us too much more, but this section interested me because it is a continuation of the theme of the lack of assimilation that seems to be at the heart of what people think is going wrong in Australia.

Rudd said the incident emanated “from a small number of individuals who should in no way be taken as a wider reflection of any group within Australian society.” A number of critics, however, say the so-called plot illustrates a failure to integrate immigrants like the Somalis into Australian society. Dr. Berhan Ahmed, chairman of the Melbourne-based African Think Tank, an organization dedicated to assisting African refugees, says outdated policies are responsible for migrants’ struggling in Australian society.

Unemployment remains a huge problem. Ahmed also cites the practice of putting refugees into troubled government-owned housing complexes or high-rise apartment blocks “where often the drug dealers are who want to recruit the kids.” Instead, parents push the kids toward religious figures, including some who preach extremist views. Says Ahmed: “What would you do for your son or daughter? Would you leave them to drug dealers?”

So, lets see, parents fearing their kids will get into drugs push them into the arms of religious zealots.  Hummm.  It has always got to be the fault of the western country that has taken in refugees, it is never the inherent problems with Islam and its Jihad imperative.

I was however interested to see that refugees in Australia are placed in substandard housing in Australia, just as they often are in the US.   What is up with that?  Maybe if they, or the US, can’t afford decent housing we SHOULDN’T BRING SO MANY REFUGEES!

Much gnashing of teeth in Australia about refugee policy in wake of terrorism bust

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve got a couple of these stories to post, so I’ll split them up so you might read each without having to read an opus.    This one from The Age includes suggestions that Australia offer scholarships for Somalis to study in Malaysia rather than accepting student visas for Australia.   But later in the article the issue is raised of the orientation program refugees receive before entering Australia. 

We hear over and over again that refugees coming to the US are not adequately prepared and educated about how they are expected to behave in the US.  Here is a suggestion that Australia do it (orientation) in Australia and not abroad.

Mr Ferguson [Parliamentary secretary for multicultural affairs Laurie Ferguson]also flagged adding to the orientation programs for refugees, which currently are run before arrival in Australia. He said there had been strong lobbying for onshore orientation to complement the existing AusCo offshore training.

“The view is that perhaps when people are getting on planes to come to Australia, they are not really listening,” he said.

“We are looking at whether we have got to refashion orientation courses here in Australia – perhaps it can be more effective with an onshore one.”

Two comments, first, in order for any orientation to work, the ‘teachers’ need to get rid of any notion of cultural relativism—if one is going to live in the West, then one must be prepared to accept our values (except maybe values promoted by South Park!) and the instructors must teach those values!  And, secondly, the refugees must want to become good citizens of the US, or Australia or wherever.   I contend that many Somalis do not want to assimilate.

And, here is a bit of evidence to make my point.  I have had this article kicking around in my queue for a couple of weeks, it is from Finland.   It seems that Somali parents (and other Muslim parents) are sending teens back to the home country to de-westernize them indicating to me that there isn’t any real interest in embracing their adopted country’s way of life no matter how well its taught.

Officials say they are learning of an increasing number of cases in which immigrant parents in Finland are forcibly sending teens back to their home countries to de-westernize them.

The Finnish Red Cross as well as social welfare offices say that every year dozens of parents who believe their children are becoming too westernized send their offspring back to African, Asian and Middle Eastern states.

If you are new today and don’t know about the Australian Somali terror bust, check out our Australia category for all the recent news from Down Under.

More on Malaysia: a Muslim country that treats refugees like dirt (or worse)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We’ve told you about this before during my rant about a UN report that said the idea of charity toward refugees originated with the Islamic so-called faith.  I told you then that Muslim countries generally do not welcome the stranger and here is further confirmation that a fairly prosperous Muslim country is abusing the refugees who arrive there.  Hat tip:  B.L.

Where are the refugees all hoping to go—to Australia of course!  A very lucrative human trafficking business has sprung up in Malaysia as a result.   From The Age:

RAMESHWAREN, a young Tamil asylum-seeker from Sri Lanka, speaks quietly, with a painful melancholy that belies his years.

“I feel castrated,” he says, looking up from the floor. “All of this is unbearable. I am on the edge of a mental breakdown.”

One of an estimated 100,000 refugees living precariously in Malaysia, and one of 16 million recognised asylum seekers worldwide, Rameshwaren’s helplessness is a frustration felt around the world.

Just one of every 250 people who have been forced to flee their countries because of war, famine and persecution can expect to be resettled as a refugee this year.

And this is why, he says, he is prepared to chance his arm and take a boat to Australia.

“I can’t return to Sri Lanka but there is no life for me here in Malaysia,” he says. “I cannot work here legally, there is no medical (care), there is no education. I don’t think that the UN will be able to resettle us. So we have to find somewhere else, we have to find some way to get there by ourselves. That is why I want to take a boat to Australia.

“It is a land of freedom. It is somewhere safe for me, my mother, my sisters and brother.”

Along with Afghans and Pakistanis, Sri Lankans are making up an increasing share of the asylum seekers paying thousands of dollars to reach Australia. Almost 200 Sri Lankans arrived last weekend, taking a vessel direct from Malaysia to Christmas Island.

Apparently the UNHCR isn’t able to protect the refugees entering Malaysia.

Yet, for all the infrastructure for illegal migrants, many refugees find Malaysia profoundly unwelcoming. It does not recognise the UN convention for refugees and its corrupt and sometimes brutal immigration officials, police and a paramilitary civilian volunteer corps known as RELA are accused of frequently harassing migrants, even those with UN Commission for Refugees cards.

UN: Boats trying to get to Australia, just the tip of the iceberg.

The UNHCR deputy representative in Malaysia, Henrik Nordentoft, says there are “great difficulties” for asylum seekers in Malaysia and that the boats intercepted recently along the route between Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia are “probably the tip of the iceberg”.

I don’t know what is to be done about the following, but I do know that if the US, Europe and Australia succumb to pressure by Leftwing open borders do-gooders and try to take on this huge challenge, just like a life boat that is overloaded and sinks with all aboard, so also will we.

He [UN Rep] points to the global dimensions of the problem. While asylum claims rose 28 per cent last year, and there were 42 million displaced people and more than 16 million officially recognised asylum seekers, only 67,000 people were resettled.

Endnote:  Yesterday I reported that the Obama Administration could expand the definition for asylum and possibly open the door for even more asylees to seek entry into the US.

Now he knows about the Australian Somali terror network

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I just told you last night that Omar Jamal is into everything going on in the Somali community, not just in Minneapolis, but now it seems across the whole world.  Here, as reported at Bartamaha, his insider knowledge is (again) on full display.

AUSTRALIAN Somalis have been denied entry to the US as recently as May and at least three flew to their war-torn homeland to fight in late 2006, American activists claim.

Minneapolis Somali Justice Advocacy Centre director Omar Jamal said two Australian Somalis had tried to enter the US to attend a fundraising conference three months ago.

“They were from Australia and they were denied entry to the US,” he said.

Also, one Somali killed in 2006 during a clash between al-Shabaab jihadists and Somali government forces was found with an Australian passport, Mr Jamal said.

US members of the al-Shabaab extremist group, which is linked to al-Qaida, have been travelling to Australia for the past six years, one US Somali leader said.

Somali American Abdirizak Bihi* fears Australians, like his nephew Burhan Hassan, 17, have fled their homes and joined al-Shabaab in Somalia.

“We have been hearing of people who were fighting and died in the Islamist war as far back as 2006 who flew in from Melbourne that died in this war,” Mr Bihi said.

* We have heard directly from Abdirizak Bihi here, and I remarked about his willingness to confront the local Imams and CAIR and I don’t want to diminish that bravery by questioning how on earth Bihi’s comrade in arms Omar Jamal is into everything!  His ‘knowledge’ strains credulity!

What a coincidence that an editor of Bartamaha, the Somali publication that posted this story, was attacked and nearly killed in Minneapolis two nights ago.  I just a few minutes ago posted that news, here.  However I see that his beating took place the night before this story was published, so perhaps no connection.

Islamic scholar says he warned Australian Government about Somali radicalization

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Dr Herse Hilole said he told Australian officials that Somali refugees in Australia were being seduced by Islamic extremists, but said he was disappointed when his warnings were not taken seriously.

From Australia’s ABC News:

Two years ago, Islamic scholar Dr Herse Hilole warned that young Somali refugees in Melbourne were being seduced by Islamic extremists.

Dr Herse Hilole is now a resident academic at the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur.

He told ABC radio’s The World Today that he expected this terrorist activity in Australia.

“My suspicion was that young Somali Muslims could be or may be used in the future to carry [out] some terrorist activities in Australia,” he said.

Dr Hilole has criticised the Federal Government’s response to his warning two years ago.

“The response at the beginning was good, but the current Government of Australia … [it] seems that they did not take this seriously,” he said.

For the original story on the Australian terrorism bust, go here.