“Scandal v.set-up: let's rewind the Hilali tape”, opinion essay by Bruce Haigh, Canberra Times 2 November 2006

 

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=your%20say&subclass=general&story
_id=527628&category=Opinion&m=11&y=2006

(With thanks to the Canberra Times )

 

 

ASIO has been bugging Sheik Taj Al-Din Hilali, the Lakemba mosque and other individuals and organisations for more than 20 years. This took place because of support expressed for radical Islamic views and activities.

 

Sheik Hilali should have been aware of this from warnings issued to tone down his remarks at the mosque and other gatherings - warnings were issued long before September 11, 2001.

 

If the translation of the latest controversial views expressed by Sheik Hilali is accurate, he is once again worthy of censure. However, there are some intriguing aspects to this story.

 

Why did a month elapse before the transcript of the tape appeared in The Australian? Who made the tape? Why did no one who heard the address complain at the time?

 

What we know is that the media has had a field day with information it has chosen to take at face value. The Muslim community is divided, the red necks have had a lovely time on talkback radio and Iraq and Afghanistan are off the front page - just at a time when criticism of Prime Minister John Howard's Middle East troop deployment was building.

 

What we have witnessed over the Hilali affair was righteous indignation mixed with hysteria and racism; it is a volatile mix and one used to great effect during the children overboard affair.

 

So who made and leaked the Hilali tape? Was it ASIO in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police?

 

The AFP is removed from public and parliamentary scrutiny because of the nature of its inception and enjoys prime ministerial patronage to an unprecedented degree. It is a para-military force running Australian foreign policy in the Pacific. There are insufficient checks and balances on an expanded and politically active AFP.

 

If the AFP and ASIO did orchestrate the leak of the Hilali tape, then the motivation, the timing and the media outlet chosen to run the material makes sense.

 

I believe we have witnessed a Howard-inspired dog whistle.

 

Within hours of the story hitting the air waves, the head of the AFP, Mick Keelty, was ready on cue expressing concern about the effect of the sheik's remarks on community relations. This sentiment was not echoed by other police commissioners.

 

Predictably, Howard soon stepped into the fray and with well-practised, although unconvincing, gravitas expressed his shock and horror. Again, this was not echoed by state premiers.

 

Even though Hilali helped the Australian Government secure the release of Douglas Wood from kidnappers in Baghdad when, once again, he over-reached, he was used for political advantage. Such is the nature of this Government.

 

But from the Government's point of view the media has played a predictably useful role in dumping on Hilali and by inference all radical Muslims. After all, aren't the views expressed by Hilali, together with terrorism, what we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan ? This is the inference behind the demonising of Hilali (not that he has made the task difficult ).

 

The media and public have expressed outrage at the religious leader's statements but where was that outrage over Howard's actions in detaining men, women and children, who were refugees and future Australian citizens, in detention camps?

 

Where is the outrage over the 10-year failure to address climate change, to put in place a sustainable policy on water and to deprive universities and research institutions of funds while at the same time spending a fortune on the war in Iraq and tax cuts?

 

Making a martyr of Hilali was not smart politics. It was at best a short-term diversion.

 

Hilali was an easy target, but closely watch Howard's democracy - you could be next. If the Prime Minister that favours funding priests in schools wants the nation to embrace morality he might start by example and put away his dog whistle.

 

Bruce Haigh is a retired diplomat and former member of the Refugee Review Tribunal.