Hi there SUSEONLINE...

I do understand what you're saying in terms of 'love thy neighbour', an important principle for sure, and I admire you for it. However, it's neigh impossible to make a friend, or be a friend to some people who lead such an insular lifestyle, whereupon they choose only to mix with their own kind. While it is true, there are some lovely Muslim people, one I know is quite senior in the AFP, and a nicer more genuine bloke you'd never meet !

There are many others though, who'll either politely shun any overtures of friendship, and still others again, who'll invariable dismiss it altogether ? And we're all, well aware of some of them, who simply view you with complete loathing and suspicion, and regard you as their mortal enemy !

Personally I believe, in order to make a friend, you need to be a friend, and I honestly believe they (some of these Muslim folks) should also extend the hand of friendship too. Otherwise, however can they expect to become accepted in our society ? And SUSEONLINE, it is 'OUR' society, make no mistake about it.

In conclusion, most other ethnicities, have very successful integrated and assimilated themselves into Australian society ? Therefore I think it it's incumbent upon each Muslim individual and family to likewise, try and accept our standards and practices, in order to successfully fit into our broader community, for their own long-term benefit ?

onthebeach, "However immigration policy and intakes should not put the population and way of life at risk by taking migrants from countries/regions where the political system, culture and traditions are diametrically opposed to our own. "
Your assumption that taking such migrants endangers our population and way of life is dodgy. Many are trying to get away from "their own" culture and traditions and would value ours more highly because of that. Why would you want to deny them that opportunity?

"As is very evident from the UK, the toxic political system, culture and traditions that corrupted government and even caused police to deny protection and assistance to the child sex slaves, and the drug trafficking that went with it, were imported from the Kashmir region of Pakistan."
So we must NEVER let Political Correctness take over here the way it did in the UK.

How can one percent of people in this country
- which is the given
percentage of Muslims in Australia -
have a negative effect on the rest of us.. And BTW -
many are fifth generation Australians with no record
of any kind of violence.

The current political stance and media hysteria has
a lot to answer.

cont'd ...

Another link worth a read:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-02-23/brullleaders/44400

O Sung Wu, I do see where you are coming from, but do we really have such a big problem of non-integrating Muslims in our country?
Or is it just the media trying to drum up customers on bad news days, and honing in on the paranoid bigots we have in our society?

We have a much more tolerant society of multicultural people here in Australia, and I have no doubt that just like the outcry over the Italians, Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants by other bigots in the past, this anti-Muslim ranting willl die down.

Until the next lot of 'foreigners' are targetted....sigh....

For me its simple - I've got no problem with anyone from any religion or culture that is willing to come into Australia, learn English if they don't already speak it, adopt or at least accept others living the lifestyle and values of our modern society. I've got no problem with the Muslim people who are 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation Australians as long as they have no problem with the Australian way of life.

My concerns are solely based on allowing more uneducated, unskilled, third world Muslim immigrants into the country because these are the ones who are more likely to not fit in and eventually segregate themselves into their own enclaves.

We don't have a problem currently. But if 1000's of the above were allowed to enter, and according to the stats have 4 - 8 children per family, there is strong possibility a problem similar to the European experience will eventuate. Japan doesn't allow Muslim immigration, the Muslim world accepts Japan's position and life goes on. We can all learn to accept and appreciate the Muslim community within Australia as it is. 1% is just fine.

Not that we would want to, but for an Australian and especially a Aussie woman to immigrate to a Muslim country they would have strict policies and expectations for our behaviour. There are certain givens within our lifestyle, such as short skirts that would be against the law in most Muslim countries.

As for Muslim immigration - nip it in the bud is what many of us are saying.