The West must engage moderate Muslim leaders despite their conservative views on such issues as gender equality, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says.
Addressing the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, Downer said such leaders must be brought into the fold if the west is to succeed in combatting extremist Islam and terrorism. He said some of their views would conflict with liberal standards but only they could prevent extremists from submerging the true Islam.
19 December 2006: UPI
LONDON, England (UPI) -- The West must engage moderate Muslim leaders despite their conservative views on such issues as gender equality, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says.
Addressing the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, Downer said such leaders must be brought into the fold if the west is to succeed in combatting extremist Islam and terrorism. He said some of their views would conflict with liberal standards but only they could prevent extremists from submerging the true Islam, World News Australia reports.
The mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj Eldine Elhilali, caused an uproar earlier this year when he blamed female victims of sexual assault for their own fate, likening them to meat left out for animals. Downer, who met Sheikh Elhilali on several occasions, said: 'I didn`t realise he held view as extreme as that - it was an extreme and outrageous thing for him to say,' but added such leaders had a role to play.
'The west faces an emerging dilemma. We might not necessarily agree with the views of all the Islamic preachers but we do need to harness the energies of people whose views we do not agree with. ... Those who do not support (extremism) are those we have to engage with.'
Downer said the influence of extreme Islam in countries such as Indonesia is waning to the point where it is now an agenda of 'a minority of ambitious reactionaries' while the general population is rejecting a 'nihilistic ideology and its gruesome methods'. The bombings in Bali and the attack on Australia`s embassy in Jakarta were examples of Australia`s vulnerability to Islamic terror, but he said governments in Muslim countries were the true targets for activists seeking to usher in Taliban-style regimes.
'To claim Australia is part of some western anti-Islamic agenda is just absurd,' Downer said. 'Australia has helped Indonesia enormously.
'This is not a conflict between the west and Islam. It`s a struggle for the heart and soul of Islam.'
Downer also urged the European Union to admit Turkey, saying the reticence of some EU nations to admit a majority Muslim country jeopardised the opportunity to engage Islam rather than isolate it.
While supporting intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, Downer said more must be done in the latter to reduce the population`s dependence upon the opium poppy as a key source of income. He said more must be done on crop removal and crop replacement programs.
