Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Thursday 14 July 2011

Another Invented and Divisive Story from Coup4.5: Fiji Muslims Aiding Terrorists

Is the man in a hat a Coup4.5 Editor?
The blog writes: "Intelligence sources say the CEO of Vodafone, Aslam Khan, was frisked and detained in a US airport on the suspicion he may be financing terrorist cells." From their first two words they spin deceit. The intelligence sources are their informants, not some state intelligence source as many readers would suppose.

The blog goes on to say they are releasing "this controversial information to warn the US, AUS, NZ and EU that Fiji is a potential carrier of terrorists who might get into their country with the help of the illegal regime and that the above people may well be moving large amounts of monies that might have come from links to world terrorist  cells."



The people they refer to are Aslam Khan and his wife, former High Court Judge Nazhat Shameem, both of whom are Ahmadiyya Muslims who shun extremism of any sort, and are not even considered Muslim by many Muslims;  and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and his brother Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who heads Fiji Broadcasting, who are both Jamaati Muslims that denounce violence.

Even Michael Field, for all his distaste of the Bainimarama government, has not stooped to such accusations. Field, a frequent visitor to India, says all Fiji's Muslims are liberal Muslims with no links to Sunni extremists.

Yet the Coup4.5 editors, who seem quite untutored on Islam, have persisted, for the past two years, to claim Muslim influence in Fiji politics. They have claimed the 2006 Coup was Muslim-led; they have portrayed  Bainimarama as a Khaiyum puppet, and repeatedly called attention to supposed Fiji Muslim links to Al Qaeda. This story, for which they have produced no evidence, is what they are trying to sell to U.S. Intelligence, and drill into to a gullible itaukei public.

Readers who choose the check out their latest story will find mention of supposedly mysterious comings and goings of people and money, a trip to Cuba, Fiji's membership of the Non-Aligned Movement, a UAE embassy in Suva, Fijian soldiers who speak Arabic, and more, much more, in a rambling  overkill that will leave U.S.A. Immigration no less confused that the blog's more intelligent readers. But the main message is clear: Fiji's Muslims could be aiding terrorism.

Putting aside their other claims (I will not ask them to name names or amounts of money), I must  ask them one question that can easily be proven or not proven: Where did they get their story about Aslam Khan?  I know for a fact that he has not even been to the U.S. recently, and the last time he was there he denies he was frisked or detained. Someone made this up.

Coup4.5 continues to use deceitful tactics by creating, spinnning and embellishing tidbits of information,  pandering to the prejudices of the less educated and the more bigoted, warning i'taukei not to trust their Muslim and Indo-Fijian fellow citizens.

This supposedly Christian blog has thrown the 9th Commandment — Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour — out of the window.

5 comments:

Siti said...

Nice one Croz. In particular that blog site says the following

NO VULGAR SWEARS OR RACIST ATTACKS.

MAKE YOUR COMMENT WORK - THUMBS UP TO CONSTRUCTIVE DEBATE.

C4.5

Ok isn't this a racist attack? The site has got so stupid that I only go there for a good laugh, there is no news, only vulgar swearing and name calling and none of the facts are ever right.

Why do you even bother with them, they really are yesterdays news.

SOE said...

This is not only a racist and extremist attack upon a religious group improperly or partially understood by many Fijians (and one uses the latest inclusive meaning of the term) but it appears that those who contribute to Coup 4.5 fail to fully understand how many terrorist attacks there have been within Fiji: we term home invasions as orchestrated, targeted terror attacks. Why? Because that is what they are and they are often 'Serious Organised Criminal Enterprise'. Now, to our knowledge the latest such attack in our immediate vicinity took place just over eight weeks ago. It included not only terror through armed home invasion but also the abduction of a woman who was forced in the middle of the night to drive the "terrorists" away in her own car for almost forty minutes, under threat of cane knives and iron crowbars. A fearful and frightful crime. To our knowledge, no Muslims were a party to this. So why spread such ill-founded rumours abroad? The ethnic group was well defined and obvious despite beanies and masks. So was the demanding language.

And yes, we use the term "abroad" quite deliberately. These are lies posted on this hysterical and distorted site. They would better spend their efforts trying their level best to stem home invasions and the depredations of Organised Criminals At Home - NOW. The Police need the assistance of persons who possess information of real use. Not the ullulations of prejudiced and mindless individuals who seem not to know or to care about what goes on in their own backyards: wherever those may be in the Southern Hemisphere?

Of course, it is highly amusing that the term 'Intelligence' is used or misused actually. There is nothing intelligent. Just dishonest baying.

State your purpose! said...

Is the Coup 4.5 Blog "supposedly christian"?

It ought to post a Mission Statement so that we all know for certain.

Leap of faith said...

This is beyond words. False, manipulative, racist etc.

It is however, impossible to detach articles such as this, and blogs such as c4.5 from the continued censorship of the media by Government. Unfortunately there will always be extremists and people willing to push out black propaganda for a range of personal/political reasons. However, the continued existence of the PER gives such people a new (although false) legitimacy, and critically, a mass audience.

The press was in a bad way pre-censorship, but I don't think it would have ever stooped as low as this.

The government is shooting itself in the foot here. Progressive, multi-ethnic policy is doomed so long as public debate is informed by regressive sources such as c4.5. Let's get such debate out in the open and discuss it while adhering to rules of freedom-of-expression and basic human respect. Leave the extremists in the shadows by showing people the light.

Anonymous said...

One thing I'm sure about is the fact that all Muslim all over the world, have the same Koran whether moderate or extremist.With the huge number of Muslim in Fiji who knows Fiji can be used or people in power could facilitate the movement of fund abroad to support extremest groups like ISIS and Alqaeda, I'm pretty certain that the Pacific islands is already on the agenda of ISIS recruiters.....the report on Fijilive that Neil Prakash has no direct link to Fiji national is an understatement.....which needs to be thoroughly investigated.