mil observer,

Finally, you appear to have given up postmodernism,in my opinion, this has not been an improvement.

What a fascinating, but irrelevant, excursion into modern South East Asian history,what does it have to do with the topic of "Islamophobia".You appear to be saying that Moslems use Islam as an ideological weapon against the West, yes I know. Islamic societies were backward and disfunctional before the first European invader set foot there.Where are your arguments going next, you've painted yourself into a corner. Congratulations on your aspiration towards "higher standards, unfortunately, if we disregard the space in your posts occupied by ad hominem arguments( which you started) there's little substance remaining. You are simply defending the indefensible, by maintaining that violations of human rights are part of an heroic anti-colonialist struggle, what banal sophistry. We've heard this nonsense from assorted Third World tyrants for decades.

mil-observer
“Malaysians decided to preserve Malay culture via Islam”

Rather silly to make such a statement because Islam is killing off traditional Malay culture.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06109/683369-82.stm

Do you think Arab Muslims are going to welcome Muslims of other nationalities? Certainly not!

Non-Arab Muslims are stooges of Arab imperialism. The Arab Muslims look down on non-Arab Muslims, killing them, like in Sudan where the Black African Muslims are systematically killed by Arab militia.

Indonesian Muslim maids are being raped by their Muslim-Arab employers.

“The article said that a female Indonesian worker who had worked as a housemaid in Saudi, had been tortured to death by her employer. Then when the case was presented to the Saudi ambassador in Indonesia, the ambassador said that it was the will of Allah, with no apology given.”
http://www.themidnightsun.org/?p=2404

Non-Arab Muslims should stop romanticising about Islam, and belonging to some “Muslim-Arab culture”. When the tsunami struck Indonesia, the Arab-Muslims were no where to be seen in aid-relief of their fellow Muslims in Acheh. Instead almost all the aid-relief was carried out by non-Muslim organisations.

Thanks too for that article, mac. That was a wake-up call for me.

IMO that article answers perfectly the question posed: what's wrong with Islamophobia? (ie fear of Islam)

Answer? Nothing, but if you disagree, please read mac's linked article & then reconsider.

I'd be interested to see what liberals (ie the left) make of this one. I do hope they read it. It's sure to divide them, but I would say most liberals will be very concerned about it (& liberal-minded people on the right too).

I was shocked at the time of the Cartoon Controversy at the abject failure of the western world's liberals to stand up for their values, primarily, freedom of speech values. Freedom of speech is such an important value that I think it trumps all. Some people say there should be limits, and I'd agree ("fire" in the building etc) but as long people are attacking ideas as opposed to people, I really cant see a problem. People will never escape enlsavement unless they are free to speak for themselves and to choose.

We had a forum on OLO on this topic some time back and I inlcuded a list of quotes from people who are universally admired in the west for their wisdom. We shouldn't forget what they said.
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=1520&page=0#28588
22 February 2008 8:56:40 PM
22 February 2008 9:01:55 PM

For liberals who genuinely fear religion (& in particular Christianity) I would simply say: If things go this way (as per mac's article), there is nothing stopping Christianity from doing the same thing. Is that what you want? If not, time to shake off your animosity toward those who dare to question Islam (or any other mindset, for that matter)

KGB,Bigmal&TR,

Thanks for the feedback, too many people seem to regard "Islamophobia" and its implications as a community relations problem.

KGB,

I agree with your comments about the Left/liberals, most of the "anti-islamisation" sites I see are right-wing. Probably, since the alarm in regard to Islam was first raised by the Right many on the Left rejected the warning instinctively, and have tried to characterise opponents of creeping islamisation as motivated by prejudice. They have traded their old ideals of liberty and a secular state for multiculturalism, and they are trading with the enemy.

The Tang-linked article concerns the withering of ancient animist and Hindu ritualistic dance theatre (Mak Yong) and Wayang Kulit shadow puppet theatre, within Malay culture. That means it's a “cultural heritage” issue for starters, not a strictly clear view of the living “Culture” itself. Lost cultural heritage is a universal challenge, but Islam's overall effect on such quaint cultural forms is probably less severe than that of Playstation or Nintendo Wii.

The WSJ-Murdoch article (from that clique who brought us the Iraq mass-war crime) attributes such cultural loss to “Muslim rules” undermining Malay youths' presumed “authentic” mixed or syncretist identity. By contrast, Malaysia's Culture Minister refers to more overt Islamization as “part of the process of searching for identity”. He was entirely correct, but Tang and other Islamophobes would claim that the demise of such ancient cultural forms as Mak Yong and Wayang Kulit proved the insidious and virulent global menace called “Islam”.

Malaysia's youth (like those in Indonesia and even the Mid-East) are subjected to a heavy diet of western popular culture, including much English language terminology, with less but significant contributions from such other sources as Bollywood and Hong Kong. But Tang's scare story refers to one Arab word replacing a Malay one – for the term “to pray”! And the Arab-derived version has less syllables - shock, awe, and horror! If the WSJ hack had half a clue, he'd realize that that Arab term has been used for centuries throughout Southeast Asia anyway (take a few deep breaths and think calm thoughts Tangy). Yep, scary but true. In fact, Arabic language influenced South and Southeast Asia since one millenium ago.

Language is the heart and soul of culture; some define the two as interchangeable terms. So, “Malaysians decided to preserve Malay culture via Islam”, and their language's good health suggests the decision was probably the best given their ethnic Malays' more precarious identity. Unlike Indonesia's indigenes, Malaysia's coexist with proportionally much larger and more powerful Chinese and Indian minorities. That's why Bumiputera policy elicits comparisons with counterparts for indigenous Australians.

So much for Tang's “research”.

[cont.]

But Tang's hate-mail against Arabs is especially disgusting. If cherry picking thus, we can find many similar crime stories elsewhere: horrific treatment of Indonesian maids by nominally “Pentecostal” ethnic Chinese, for another example of proportionally large employers of Indonesian maids. We have also seen some hate-spreading from minority nutters within such evangelical quarters too. Unlike Islamophobes, I don't use such cases to vilify religious traditions themselves as threatening or deviant, conflated with some apocalyptic notion of “civilizational threat”. However, I do identify two ailments when a minority of ratbags dare show their sick heads: “Islamophobia”, and missionary hypocrisy via opportunistic bandwagon-jumping on neoliberalism's various war drives.

Tang's reference to Sudan is interesting, but seems more fantasy than fact. The Chinese Government, to its great credit, has bravely persisted in offering much-needed infrastructure work for Sudan in exchange for exploration and other access. Again, this is a globally strategic situation where greedy, petulant rejects foment warfare in order to bring about regime change and thus circumvent expansion of Chinese influence, however beneficial - indeed novel - such influence is in a continent long treated as little more than a quarry and carpetbaggers' billboard advertisement for their big “missionary altruism” business.

But the inspiring part of all progress in such countries, not only Muslim countries but their non-Muslim allies too, is their clearly close proximity to historic and strategic victory against enormous odds; it's always great to see a win for those who didn't pick the fight. My friends and I inhabit a very big corner, and it just keeps getting bigger.

[mac, your “pomo” quips just might look like a sophisticated and learned distraction to some. So finally, there's my tiny red herring in response to that little trawl]

TR, while on the subject of “sophisticated”: what exactly is “intercivilisational politics” (did you get that from Star Trek or from that neocons' Klingon Huntington)? And “a two-way street” (maybe something to do with a road map)? Are you snorting your liberalist idol Hitchens' supply while watching “smart bomb” videos from Iraq?

[Then TR's clanger: “Islamic ideology”!] Er, which one? Wahabbism?