The wider picture

With great amazement I read the reply to my letter under the heading Intolerance Of Muslims (September 9) by Carmel Attard.

Mr Attard dedicated his entire letter to my comments on Arab Muslims in Australia and ignored all the other points I made.

First of all I should make it perfectly clear that I am not being critical of all Arab Muslims. My letter was in response to comments made by Lenie Reedijk, of the Netherlands, where he objected to the term illegal immigrants, after they arrive in Malta without documentation and refuse to cooperate with the local authorities.

I also made comments about the pressure on the authorities and the Maltese people that have to foot the bill.

Mr Attard wrote about Americans bullying Arabs. I am the first one to agree with that as I am not a fan of the American imperialist way. My letter was not about American-Arab conflict; my letter was about my sincere concern about Malta's illegal immigrants problem but that doesn't appear to worry Mr Attard; he is more concerned about me attending an interfaith forum.

Mr Attard, this might come as a surprise to you, but I have Muslim friends too and I do think there is good and bad in every one. It is true that members of the Muslim clergy, mainly those arriving from overseas, preached hatred in Australia. In fact, the Australian government has been criticised by the media for allowing these members of the Muslin clergy into the country. It is also true that Islam does not advocate violence.

Being a resident of Engadine, in NSW, Australia, Mr Attard is surely aware of some of the happenings there, such as the number of rapes of young white non-Muslim girls by young Muslim men.

I know that rape is committed in all cultures but the offenders I speak about admitted that it is "OK" to rape a non-Muslim; so they pick their victim according to race and religion. Rape is a horrendous crime but in this case it was worse because it was a hate crime.

Mr Attard must also have seen young Muslim boys on TV saying they will never be a part of the Australian society because they are Arab Muslims first. One even went as far as to say they want to be governed by the law of Islam.

A Muslim man who worked for me admitted to me that if his daughter married a non-Muslim he would kill her.

Is this the type of culture mentality and future we want for Malta?

Malta needs to be protected not just from economic refugees but its culture, faith and heritage must also be safeguarded for the sake of future generations.

Let us not destroy what our forefathers have built, fought for and died to protect.