Former Australian PM Stokes Islam Debate: ‘Not All Cultures Are Equal’

By Patrick Goodenough | December 11, 2015 | 4:18 AM EST

Then-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, seen here with President Obama and then-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia in November 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

(CNSNews.com) – Calls by Australia’s conservative former prime minister for Islam to be reformed have stoked debate, with some critics accusing him of behavior reminiscent of Donald Trump.

Never one to shy away from controversy, Tony Abbott – who remains a member of parliament three months after losing a party leadership challenge and thus the premiership – said in a letter published in a Sydney tabloid this week that the West “can’t remain in denial about the massive problem within Islam.”

“Islam never had its own version of the Reformation and the Enlightenment or a consequent acceptance of pluralism and the separation of church and state,” he wrote.

“It’s not culturally insensitive to demand loyalty to Australia and respect for Western civilization. Cultures are not all equal. We should be ready to proclaim the clear superiority of our culture to one that justifies killing people in the name of God.”

Abbott’s political rivals accused him of bigotry, with some trying to draw parallels with GOP presidential candidate Trump and his recent call for Muslims to be temporarily banned from entering the U.S.

Andrew Leigh, a senior lawmaker in the opposition Labor Party, called Abbott an “Australian Donald Trump” while another Labor member of parliament, Ed Husic – who is Muslim – wondered in a television interview whether Abbott and others were trying to “Trumpify Australian politics by bringing in the extreme elements of conservative discussion within the U.S. political system to Australian shores.”

The criticism lead to newspaper headlines like: “Australia ex-PM Tony Abbott defends Trump-like ‘modernize’ Islam comment.”

But after delivering a speech in Singapore on Wednesday night, Abbott did not back down.

“Not all cultures are equal,” he told the audience at an event hosted by the Institute for International Strategic Studies Asia. “And I am more than ready to assert the superiority of a culture that is decent and humane, open and welcoming, over a culture that thinks it's right to kill in the name of God.”

Abbott said “the allure” of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) must be addressed.

“Part of that is defeating it – because as long as it survives, there is this idea that somehow it is of God, and if it fails, almost by definition, it is not.”

Abbott was also asked his views on Trump, and replied cautiously, saying it was not his habit to speak about other country’s politics.

But he did observe that looking at the U.S. from a distance, “there appears to be a degree of popular alienation from Washington in general and the leadership of both major parties in particular.”

“Now I would very much be inclined to think that at some stage in the Republican nominating process the frontrunner will come back to the pack – that would be my instinct,” Abbott said.

“Because certainly the sorts of things that he [Trump] said would suggest that he would be an interesting person to be the leader of the free world.”

Australian Islamic leaders rejected the notion that Islam needs to be reformed.

“Islam is not in any need of reformation since the normative principles and practices of the religion allow Muslims to harmoniously coexist within pluralist societies that are based on the universal values of compassion and justice,” said Australia’s grand mufti, Ibrahim Abu Mohammad.

The Egyptian-born Sunni cleric has himself stoked controversy on occasion, most recently with a statement following last month’s terror attacks in Paris highlighting the need to address what he called “causative factors [of terrorism] such as racism, Islamophobia, curtailing freedoms through securitization, duplicitous foreign policies and military intervention.”

(Amid negative reaction, the mufti then said he was not implying that the “causative factors” justify terrorism.)

The ambassador of Indonesia, Australia’s near neighbor and the world’s most populous Islamic nation, called Abbott’s remarks unhelpful.

“A rhetoric boasting of cultural and religious superiority over other cultures and religions is unhelpful to the cause and divisive,” Nadjib Riphat Kesoema told the Australian Associated Press.

“It is important for us including the multicultural societies of Australia and Indonesia to keep our focus on efforts to creating a long-term solution to the common challenges of violent extremism that we face.”

Abbott’s successor, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Australia’s national broadcaster that Abbott was “entitled to his opinion.”

“I’d simply make the observation again that the one thing that we need to be very careful not to do – and I’m sure Tony agrees with this by the way – what we must not do is play into the hands of our enemies and seek to tag all Muslims with responsibility for the crimes of a few,” he said.

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