Barney Zwartz Religion editor, The Age.
February 20, 2013 - 11:13AM
All Muslims should renounce their religion immediately in favour of Christianity or atheism - it would be better for them and for everyone else, controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders said in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Insisting politely that he did not want to incite or offend anyone, the anti-Islam campaigner described the prophet Muhammad as ''a warlord, terrorist and paedophile'' and urged Australia to ban the Koran and all migration from Muslim countries.
Told that Premier Ted Baillieu had advised Victorians to ignore him, Mr Wilders said the Premier could ignore the threat of Islam and ''sing Kumbaya'' all day long, but the voters would wake up eventually.
Geert Wilders at the clandestine press conference. Photo: Wayne Taylor
Mr Wilders was speaking to the assembled media at a secret location 40 minutes' drive north-west of Melbourne, of which they were notified only in the morning.
The media had to register in advance, show ID on arrival and pass several burly men in dark suits with black radio earpieces.
For years, Mr Wilders has lived under constant police protection, staying in a government safe house and being driven in an armoured car, but before his visit Melbourne Muslim leaders said he was under no threat of violence from local Muslims. However, the Q Society, which is hosting his three-city tour, says it has had more than two dozen venues refuse to host him or cancel bookings for fear of violent protests.
The Q Society was founded in 2010 to ''educate Australians about Islam'', media spokesman Andrew Horwood said.
Mr Wilders - impeccably dressed and coiffured and a polished media performer who never raised his voice despite some hostile questioning - said Islam was a totalitarian system that was incompatible with freedom.
''I am here to talk about the Islamisation of Europe,'' he said. ''If you think what happened in Europe will not happen in Australia you are totally wrong.''
He said he did not oppose the multiculturalism on which Australia prides itself, but cultural relativism, ''the crazy idea that all cultures are equal, so you don't have a dominant culture''.
He said Islam was based on the Koran, which contained more anti-Semitism than Hitler's manifesto Mein Kampf, and on the example of the life of the prophet Muhammad.
''Muhammad was a warlord, terrorist and paedophile (who slept with a wife when she was nine). If 1.5 billion people think he is the best example to follow it's fair and necessary to analyse it and be able to talk about it.
''I call on all the Muslims in the world to leave Islam for Christianity or atheism or whatever they want. This will be good for them and also for our free society.''
Australian Multicultural Foundation chief executive Hass Dellal said that call was so outlandish there was no sensible reply.
''He is full of contradictions and is wrapped up in his own notoriety. He never speaks of tolerance, understanding or cohesion,'' Mr Dellal said.
Islamic Council of Victoria past president Ramzi Elsayed said Mr Wilders' remarks simply showed ignorance. ''He seems to be losing rationality in his argument,'' he said.
Mr Wilders cancelled the Perth leg of his tour because a hotel hosting him pulled out late on Tuesday.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that Mr Wilders was ''substantially'' wrong on Islam.
''He's entitled to his viewpoint but I think that the Muslims in this country see themselves rightly as fair dinkum, dinky-di Australians, just as the Catholics and the Jews and the Protestants and the atheists,'' Mr Abbott told Fairfax Radio.
''That's one of the great strengths of our country - we are always conscious of what we have in common, rather than the things that divide us.''
Dutch Politician Geert Wilders Tells Muslims To Change Religion
