Monday

Swiss referendum – a mockery of democracy

In a referendum held on 29.11.2009, the citizens of Switzerland have voted in favor of ban of construction of minarets in the places of worship of Muslims. The right wing conservative groups have won this campaign much against the wishes of the Government and the business lobbies with 57.5 % of voters casting their votes to ban construction of Minarets. Only 5% of the population of this country follow Islam out of the 7.6 million strong population predominantly following  Christianity.

All over the world the popular impression about Switzerland has been that it is a liberal multilingual country with religious tolerance. But the referendum has exposed the undercurrents in the Swiss society.

A minaret installed on the roof of a Turkish cultural centre is seen with a church in the background on November 20, 2009 in Wangen bei Olten, northwestern Switzerland.

It started in 2005 when the Turkish cultural association  applied for a construction permit to erect a 6-metre-high minaret on the roof of its Islamic community centre in a small municipality which was opposed by the local community. After appeals and court cases the 6m Minaret was constructed in July 2009.

This has snowballed in to a controversy and has become a political issue with the right-wing parties projecting the Minarets as symbols of Islamic militancy.

The Egerkinger committee made up of members of the Swiss People’s Party, the largest party in the Swiss parliament and the Federal Democratic Union alleged 

“the construction of a minaret has no religious meaning. Neither in the Qur’an, nor in any other holy scripture of Islam is the minaret expressly mentioned at any rate. The minaret is far more a symbol of religious-political power claim”

One of the parliamentarian says

“We don’t have anything against Muslims, But we don’t want minarets. The minaret is a symbol of a political and aggressive Islam, it’s a symbol of Islamic law. The minute you have minarets in Europe it means Islam will have taken over.”

The opinion of majority of the people of Switzerland appears to be swayed by the trend elsewhere around the world.

One cannot resist inviting a reference to the demolition of Babri Masjid in India by the Hindu nationalists based on similar accusations against the minority Muslims. After the demolition, the right wing groups were elected to rule India for five years. We should wonder whether the votes of the people in the subsequent national election in favour of the Hindu nationalist parties was a public ratification of the demolition of the Masjid ? The Liberhan inquiry commission which went into the incident has recently recommended no punitive action against the people who demolished the Masjid.  This confirms the rule of the majority where crimes can be voted and justified. The issue is still pending in the courts.  India survives based on a well drafted Constitution which is still  inspiring the people to amend the mistakes.

In Malaysia with Muslim majority, the minority Hindu groups allege demolition of Hindu temples. The same problem can be seen in Pakistan or Afganistan, the countries where a number of Hindu cultural and Historic religious places are located

The result of the referendum to ban Minaret in Switzerland has anguished the 400,000 strong Muslims community in Switzerland who originated from former Yugoslavia and Turkey. Further it has caused outrage and anger of the Muslims all over the world.

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Ali Gomaa has already condemned Switzerland’s decision saying

“We received this initiative in sorrow and it is considered as a humiliation for the Muslim community in and out of Switzerland.”

There is no doubt that the repercussion of the ban will be felt more in future and the Swiss society will be compelled to learn more by the developments inside and outside the country. Mr Reinhard Schulze, professor of Islamic Studies at Berne University says

“I think Swiss Muslims will be angry and bitter over this. And we know that anger and bitterness among a community can lead to radicalisation, even to militancy.”

The world shall be now flooded with ideas in favor and against this practice of conducting a referendum against the rights of minorities.

But the very first logic behind conducting a referendum about the rights of minority by majority people appears to be foolish. Why should we conduct a referendum on an issue  which everyone knows can polarize the people ? A victory of majority is always pre determined in a Democracy. The decision of the referendum in Switzerland clearly shows the fear expressed by a majority community against a tiny minority. This is more a response to the terrorist activities of Islamic fundamentalists in other countries than the growing influence of Islam in Switzerland.

If Muslim minarets are  to be buried underground how can a Christian Church or Hindu temple touch the heaven? If the Swiss conservatives want to question the growth of Islam, they should fight Islam philosophically.

If referendums can be used as a tool by the majority people to determine the rights of the minorities anything can happen to minorities in any country  and that is just making fun of democracy where only the number rules over the principles. It goes against the civilization and the moral concepts developed by civilized societies.

Since the decision of the Swiss referendum is clearly against the universally accepted  pricnciples of  democracy,  it should be held illegal by the international court and should be rejected by world community.

In Singapore we can see the four languages  Chinese, Malay, Tamil and Engish adopted as official languages equally irrespective of the number of speakers;  A Hindu temple can share a common compound with a mosque or church although Hindus constitute only 7 percent of the total population where Chinese are in majority. Singapore is an example of  a multilingual and multi religious society which has evolved in to  a successful progresssive state.

In Srilanka the majority Buddist Sinhalese have tried every trick by framing their constitution to their will to discriminate against the Hindu Tamil minority. They adopted executive presidential system to suppress the powers of minority in Parliament. This has led to a civil war which is at present temporarily stopped due to clandestine intervention of big powers in favour of Majority rulers. At present Sr Lanka is becoming a failed state with no concern for human rights, civil liberties, press freedom and rights of minorities and is preparing itself for a democratic election where the people are left with a choice to choose any one of the two war criminals.

If Switzerland continues with the implementation of majoritarian policies, it is indeed more likely to become the Srilanka of Europe.

The tears of the people out of unbearable oppression

Shall ruin the economy of a state

( 555 ThiruValluvar)