Source:
https://scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3002166/new-zealand-shooting-authorities-must-address-concerns-muslim Letters
New Zealand shooting: Authorities must address concerns of the Muslim community
- New Zealand’s tradition of good relations between different communities should persist despite the recent violence
Aucklanders hold a vigil in Aotea Square in support of the victims of the Christchurch mosque killings on March 16. Photo: New Zealand Herald
The Muslim community of Hong Kong was shocked by the news of the terror attack on innocent Muslims in two mosques in New Zealand (“New Zealand shooting: children, refugees among Christchurch mosque attack victims”, March 16).
Kowloon Mosque and the community express their condemnation of the attack. The chief imam has prayed for the victims in the biggest gathering for Friday prayer last week.
New Zealand has a history of good relations among the different communities. Hopefully, this incident will not affect that. We expect the authorities to look into the causes of the attack and address the concerns of the Muslim community.
Mufti Muhammad Arshad, chief imam of Hong Kong
Anger-prone men will always find reasons to provoke conflict
When I read about bigotry-induced atrocities like the mass murders at the two mosques in New Zealand, I wonder whether humankind could really use a sci-fi movie type of alien invasion which would allow people to unite.
In the film Independence Day, the most memorable of unexpected alliances against the evil aliens was the sight of Israeli fighter pilots working alongside their Iraqi counterparts.
But then again, what would happen, say, some five decades later, after all traces of the nightmarish invasion vanish and when the politics of scale, to which we humans are so collectively prone, come back to the fore?
Race is the most obvious difference between us – remove that entirely and there will be less obvious differences left to clash over, such as ethnicity, religion, nationality and so forth.
From the intercontinental, international and national to the regional, provincial and municipal levels, I believe that the human race as a whole – but especially us anger-prone men – can be relied upon to inevitably find reason to irreconcilably differ and provoke conflict. Hypothetically, even if our species consisted only of a few city blocks of residents who are similar in every way, eventually there’d still be some sort of bitter inter-neighbourhood dispute.
Frank Sterle Jnr, Canada