In Depth:  Peter Riddell

letter from Australia

Australia Day is traditionally celebrated across the country with public events, sporting fixtures and diverse festivities. However, for some, it represents a day of shame that should be scrapped.

January 26, 1788 was the date that the First Fleet under Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into Sydney Harbour, bringing a mixture of free settlers and convicts to establish a new colony for the British Crown. Some 237 years later, Australia is a thriving member of the international community, with firm democratic structures and serving as an economic powerhouse in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Gaza War, triggered by the murderous Hamas attacks on Israelis on 7 October, has polarised communities and nations. However, Malaysia, a multi-religious nation with a 65% Muslim majority, provides a unique example of how the narrative can be shaped by mainstream media, activists, governments and their agencies.

Two days after the Hamas attacks, the mainstream broadsheet New Straits Times, in an article by Luqman Hakim, summarised a ‘complex attack’ by the Hamas military wing on Israeli settlements which were taken over. The ‘Israeli Occupation Army’ then launched an operation against the Hamas groups. No mention was made of the massacres of Israeli civilians by the Hamas attackers. Attention was, however, directed to a mosque funded by Malaysian sources that was destroyed by Israeli bombing. The article concludes with the declaration that: ‘Despite the destruction, the jihadist spirit of Muslims will never fade.’

A game of Rugby League might not be expected to attract widespread political and social commentary. But the decision by the Manly Sea Eagles club of Sydney to acknowledge gay pride has stirred up a hornets’ nest.

Club management arranged for the production of rainbow jerseys to be worn for one round of the National Rugby League competition. This triggered the withdrawal of seven of its top players, who mostly hail from Pacific Island minority Christian communities. When the club selected replacement players, there were further withdrawals.

One of the largest groupings of nations in the world is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), comprising 11 countries with a total population of 680 million people of whom around 120 million are Christians of various denominations.

Churches of these countries have been forthright in supporting Ukraine. The Protestant Christian Batak Church in Indonesia wrote and distributed a song of prayer and hope dedicated to the people of Ukraine and the countries receiving them. Similarly, Singapore churches called for prayer and supported humanitarian aid efforts. The Grace Baptist Church wrote: ‘After weeks of posturing and diplomacy with the US and Europe while the world waited with bated breath, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched an invasion by land, air and sea on neighbouring Ukraine. This is the largest conventional attack on a European state since World War Two, 80 years ago.’ New Creation Church wrote: ‘As a church, we are supporting a Christian humanitarian organisation to bring relief and aid to the people.’

In Malaysia, the ongoing arm wrestle between the civil court system and the Islamic Court system has reached a key stage in the case of Hindu citizen Mrs Indira Gandhi.

In 2009, Mrs Gandhi’s husband Patmanathan moved out of the family home, taking their 11-month-old daughter Prasana with him. He converted to Islam, taking the name Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, and then filed for unilateral conversion to Islam of their three children without consulting his wife. On this basis, he was given custody of the children from the Shariah Court as, according to Islamic Law, children remain with the Muslim parent if a mixed marriage ends in divorce.

How are people of faith in Southeast Asia responding to the Covid pandemic?

Some Muslim commentators in Southeast Asia emphasise Allah’s overarching sovereignty as the underlying cause of Covid. Ustadz Haerul Akmal of the Islamic University of Darussalam Gontor, Indonesia, commented that ‘Allah … wants to test his servants, which of them remains upright in carrying out all God’s commands and upright in avoiding all heinous deeds.’

The Islamic Sultanate of Brunei is the wealthiest nation per capita in Southeast Asia and one of the wealthiest nations in the world.

Its rich oil reserves, expected to run out in less than 20 years, have enabled it to become highly industrialised and developed. Yet in spite of those trappings of modernity, it remains an absolute monarchy under Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Since gaining independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984, it is slowly becoming one of the least-enlightened former British colonies, principally in terms of one feature: its increasing embrace of Sharia law.

The High Court of Malaysia has passed a ruling allowing non-Muslims to use the term ‘Allah’ for God in their Malay-language worship services and literature.

On face value, this should appear uncontroversial, as Christians in that region have referred to God as ‘Allah’ for 400 years, including using the term in translations of the Bible into Malay.

Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, hardline leader of Indonesia’s notorious Islamic Defenders Front, is no friend of Christians and Christianity.

So when he returned in November to the world’s most populous Muslim nation after a three year self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia, there was a sense of foreboding among Indonesia’s 30 million Christians of what was to come.

An inaccurate reference to ‘Biblical corruption’ has sparked a storm of protest in Malaysia’s Parliament.

The dispute erupted after comments by Muslim MP Nik Muhammad Zawawi Nik Salleh during a debate about increasing fines for drink-driving offenders.

As with the United Kingdom, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests which have swept across the United States have overflowed to Australian society. The tangle of BLM issues with the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered bitter debate and some social dislocation.

The weekend of 6–7 June was a particular focal point. BLM protest organisers announced plans for significant gatherings in Australia’s major cities to draw attention to the deaths in custody of Aboriginal Australians arrested for various reasons. There have been at least 432 indigenous deaths in custody since a Royal Commission examined the issue in 1991. This has been a simmering matter for decades, erupting into protest action at various points in time, and almost predictably piggybacking onto the worldwide BLM activism presently underway.

At the time of writing, the seemingly never-ending summer of bushfires continues to take a devastating toll. Some 33 people have been killed in the fires, and over 2,500 homes across the nation destroyed, with the heaviest loss occurring in the state of New South Wales.

Losses among wildlife and livestock are inestimable in number, with some sources stating that perhaps 1.25 billion animals have been destroyed. The landmass devastated is equal to one and a half times the area of Scotland. Australian home territory has largely escaped the ravages of war over the decades, but is now experiencing something similar to a devastating military attack.

Hong Kong’s population has been in fer-ment during June, with protests by millions against an extradition bill proposed by the autonomous city’s own administration.

The situation was triggered by the murder in Taiwan of a 20-year-old Taiwanese woman. She was allegedly killed by her boyfriend, a citizen of Hong Kong, who fled there after the murder. In the absence of an extradition agreement between Taiwan and Hong Kong, the suspect was unable to be extradited to Taiwan to face trial.

A massive struggle is under way in Malaysia over the soul of Islam and the future identity of the state.

Long touted as a beacon of moderate Islam, Malaysia faces an uncertain future, as backward-looking Islamists engage in a bitter dispute with forward-looking modernisers, and Christians and other minorities are fearful of the outcome.

Australia conjures up images of sun, beaches and a relaxed lifestyle.

As with most stereotypes, there is a kernel of truth to such perceptions. For example, in the annual list of the world’s most liveable cities produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Melbourne gained first place for seven years in a row between 2011 to 2017. This year, Melbourne came second, with Sydney and Adelaide also placed in the top ten.

It’s not every week that the Prime Minister of a Western nation stands before a church congregation and leads spontaneous community prayer.

But on 30 September, new Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison did just that. While visiting Planetshakers, a large Pentecostal church in Melbourne, Mr Morrison ascended the worship platform and led prayers for the victims of the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami and also for Australian farmers locked in the grip of a drought-induced financial crisis.

In an ironic turnaround, the LGBTI lobby in Australia is proving to be a significant source of support for faith-based schools, including Christian schools.

In 2010, the government of Victoria rolled out the Safe Schools programme. The purpose of Safe Schools, according to official government speak, was to develop a mechanism to limit bullying within schools of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) students. This programme included professional development activities for school teachers accompanied by materials for the training of students to eliminate discrimination against LGBTI students.

In recent years, accusations of spreading fake news have been commonplace between rival political groups across the world. But in Malaysia, this accusation has taken an ominous turn.

On 2 April, the Malaysian Lower House of Parliament passed the Anti-Fake News Bill. It defines fake news as ‘news, information, data and reports which is or are wholly or partly false.’ An offender is anyone who ‘knowingly creates, offers, publishes, prints, distributes, circulates or disseminates any fake news or publication containing fake news.’

January 26 represents Australia’s national day. It marks the day when the first fleet of settlers and convicts arrived from Britain to Sydney Cove to establish a permanent settlement. It first became a public holiday in 1818, but it was not until 1946 that Australia Day was accepted and recognised in all Australian states and territories.

Australia Day is now a time of national celebration. Public festivals are held at both unofficial and official levels. Speeches are given by politicians and social leaders, and it is a favourite day for holding citizenship ceremonies to welcome new members of Australia’s culturally diverse community.

In Australia, supporters of same sex marriage (SSM) continue to celebrate the result of the postal survey taken during the months of September and October.

Around 62% of Australian voters answered yes to the simple question: ‘Should the law be changed to allow same sex couples to marry?’ Press coverage of this result has generally taken the line that the Australian people have overwhelmingly supported SSM.

In Australia, conversations about Islamophobia are expanding as the Muslim minority community grows. As in the UK, the term ‘Islamophobia’ is often used as a device to silence critics of Islam.

In the following interview, I was asked a series of questions about Islamophobia by a university student newspaper.

The relationship between church and society in Australia has always been ambiguous.

In the earliest years of European settlement following the establishment of Sydney in 1788, a fundamental divide existed between the free settlers and colonial officials on the one hand, who tended to be Anglican, and the large numbers of convicts, often Irish Catholics, who were predictably anti-authority and resentful.

Marawi City was virtually unknown outside the Philippines until 23 May 2016, when hundreds of jihad warriors stormed the sprawling urban metropolis of 200,000 residents and claimed large parts of it for the Islamic State. Since then the Philippines Armed Forces have struggled to regain control and the fight is ongoing .

The background to this crisis is multifaceted. There has been a long history of regional separatism and sectarian strife in the southern regions of the Philippines where the country’s 6 million-strong Muslim minority is centred.

Some things will never change in New Zealand. The spectacular scenery in the South Island, so graphically captured in the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, will remain for the benefit of future generations, as will the more subtle but equally appealing beauty of the country’s North Island.

Similarly, but less desirable, the country’s location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, will remain for posterity.

The version of Islam found in the Muslim majority countries of Southeast Asia – Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei – has long been regarded as a more moderate face of the religion.

Indeed, when these countries gained independence from their colonial rulers after the Second World War, political systems and social structures were shaped to more resemble Western democratic models than the more self-consciously Islamic systems of the Middle East.

Around 15 million Australians voted in the Federal election held on 2 July.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had called for a double dissolution election, so seats in both the lower house, the House of Representatives, and the upper house, the Senate, were up for grabs. After winning a landslide in the 2013 Federal election, Turnbull’s conservative Liberal-National Party Coalition government was expected to win comfortably.

The Muslim communities of Southeast Asia have long been regarded as among the more moderate of the Islamic world.

The world’s largest Muslim nation, Indonesia, sits alongside the smaller but dynamic Muslim communities of Malaysia and Brunei, as well as the sizeable Muslim minorities in Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Together these nations are home to around 250 million Muslims.

As Australian churches entered the New Year, the attention of the church media was devoted to several pressing issues of debate, both domestic and international.

The push in Australia for the somewhat euphemistically named ‘same-sex marriage’ has been increasing in momentum in recent times. Opposition is coming from various quarters, including the different Australian churches, in partnership with other faith communities.

Since the civil war began in Syria in 2011, almost a quarter of a million people have been killed. Of the survivors, an estimated 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. This fact, combined with the deliberate campaigns of terror waged by the Islamic State, has triggered the massive outpouring of refugees from Syria.

Such macro figures do not discriminate between Syria’s diverse population. A closer look at the country’s demography unpacks the religious diversity: 87% of Syrians are Muslim (also diverse), 10% are Christian and the remainder represent small minority groups, such as Druze and Yazidis.

On 15 September, Malcolm Turnbull became Australia’s 29th Prime Minister. Incumbents have enjoyed an average of just under four years in the post since Federation in 1901. However, the country has had five prime ministerial appointments in the last eight years, so cynics have been quick to suggest that the country is heading for chronic political instability in line with Italy.

Turnbull represents the stereotype of the self-made man. Brought up by his father after his mother left the family, Turnbull achieved well at school and after completing undergraduate studies in Sydney he won a Rhodes scholarship to study in Oxford. His widely recognised powerful intellect quickly set him on the path to achievement in a variety of fields.

While Europe is facing an immigration crisis, with unprecedented numbers of refugees being shipped by people smugglers on rickety boats across the Mediterranean – with many drowning – Australia is at the opposite end of the curve, having stemmed the flow of boat people in the last two years. However, the debate rages on around issues of ethics.

The 15 years since the turn of the millennium have seen the refugee pendulum swing wildly. In 2000, the Conservative Coalition Government led by Prime Minister John Howard faced increasing numbers of refugee boats reaching Australia’s shores without government approval.

In 2014, thousands of schoolchildren across the Australian State of Victoria received Christian religious education provided by the Access Ministries organisation. However, this particular ministry is under severe pressure due to the activities of very influential lobby groups consisting of parents and social activists.

The first school in Victoria had its curriculum set as early as 1840. That curriculum embedded religious instruction among the broader range of subjects, at a time when such integration of faith instruction with secular subjects was widely accepted. In order to build a sense of unity in the crucial area of the educational formation of young Australians, the Joint Council for Religious Instruction in State Schools was established in 1920. It was the forerunner of today’s Access Ministries.

The Australian city of Melbourne has recently been voted as the world’s most liveable city for the fourth year in a row. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual liveability survey had Melbourne leading the top ten cities, which also included Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Adelaide, Calgary, Sydney, Helsinki, Perth and Auckland.

Indeed, Melbourne is certainly an easy city to live in from a material perspective according to the survey’s criteria: healthcare, education, stability, culture and environment and infrastructure. In matters of Christian faith, however, there are a number of challenges which are not considered by the liveability survey.

In recent weeks in Australia – and indeed in neighbouring Southeast Asian countries – the news has been dominated by events in the Middle East and the danger from local terror groups.

The conservative government in Australia led by Tony Abbott has introduced two bills before Parliament to counter a potential threat from local Islamist radicals. Among its northerly neighbours, much discussion about similar legislation has been undertaken by Indonesian authorities. Malaysian authorities have made several arrests at Kuala Lumpur International Airport of Muslim citizens suspected of departing to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

The capital cities of Australia’s states experienced their first Muslim Global Dawah Day on July 5, with teams of young mission-minded Muslim activists distributing leaflets and engaging in street evangelism for Islam. They took their lead from a wealth of online resources, with well-known British activist Abdur Raheem Green being a key spokesman for the worldwide campaign.

Although Global Dawah Day had little profile in the mainstream Australian media, it came at a time of considerable public anxiety and government activity over reports of home-jihadis grown leaving to fight for radical Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq. In early July, the Australian Attorney General warned that at least 60 Australians are actively involved in fighting with extremist groups, such as the newly declared Islamic caliphate, with a further 150 providing various forms of support.

May 1, 2014 will be significant in the history of the lush and sleepy Southeast Asian state of Brunei.

On that day, the Sultanate enacted potentially harsh shari’a legal codes, following instructions by the country’s 67-year-old absolute monarch. Protests by Hollywood stars boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel chain partially owned by Brunei authorities ensured that Brunei’s dramatic move has hit the international media.

At face value, Australia and Malaysia share a number of common features. Both are medium-sized nations, with Australia having a population of 22 million and Malaysia 28 million.

Both are multifaith societies. Australia’s 61% Christian majority sits alongside a non-religious minority of 22% as well as smaller numbers of Buddhists (2.5%), Muslims (2.2%), Hindus (1.3%) and others. Malaysia’s 60% Muslim majority shares the country with Buddhists (19%), Christians (9%), Hindus (6%) and others. In effect, both societies are highly pluralistic in terms of both faith and ethnicity.

In Malaysia, the religious landscape is delicately balanced. Around 60% of Malaysians are Muslims with the other 40% being divided among Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians (9%), Taoists, Confucianists and several other minority faiths.

In spite of a constitutional statement providing freedom of religion, Islam in Malaysia — as the religion of the indigenous Malay population — is protected in theory and in practice. Minority faiths are banned by law from attempting to convert Muslims; in contrast, laws and government institutions actively facilitate the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. Such Muslim outreach is driven by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM), an arm of the Federal Government.