| Submit your comments on this article |
| Down Under |
| Australian university urged to hand back Saudi cash |
| 2008-04-27 |
| Muslim community leaders have urged Griffith University to return a $100,000 grant from the Saudi Arabian embassy as prominent academics attacked vice-chancellor Ian O'Connor for his confusion over the Islamic ideology embraced by Osama bin Laden. Professor O'Connor was yesterday also attacked by fellow academics for partly plagiarising his written defence of the Saudi grant from online encyclopedia Wikipedia - as revealed by The Weekend Australian - and accused of being out of his depth on Islamic issues. The anger in Muslim and academic circles follows revelations by The Australian that the Queensland university asked the Saudis for a $1.37 million grant, of which it received $100,000, and offered to keep elements of the funding deal secret. The nation's most senior female Muslim leader, Aziza Abdel-Halim, urged Griffith to return the Saudi funds, saying the Saudi Government was known for funding projects such as mosques and religious activities in Australia to "subtly" impose its hardline ideology on recipients. "If there are no guarantees they have a free hand in their curriculum ... then it is safer to give the money back," she told The Australian. "If they are not able to have no strings attached, then it's better to not have the money." Documents unveiled by The Australian last week revealed that Professor O'Connor, among other staff, offered the embassy a chance to "discuss ways" in which the money could be used. Professor O'Connor was defended yesterday by Griffith's chancellor, Leneen Forde, who described him as an "outstanding leader", saying the university would not have accepted Saudi funds if they had conditions attached. "In relation to the two sentences lifted from the Wikipedia entry, Professor O'Connor has acknowledged this was inappropriate," she wrote in a memo to staff. "This is regrettable, but is a very minor error compared to the outstanding work which Professor O'Connor has done and will continue to do for the university." A Howard government adviser on Islam, Ameer Ali, said Professor O'Connor was wrong to interchange the term Wahabbism - a Saudi-pioneered Islamic ideology espoused by al-Qa'ida - with Unitarianism when he defended the Saudi grant in an opinion piece published by The Australian last week. Melbourne University associate professor Shahram Akbarzadeh said Professor O'Connor played down and did not properly reflect the essence of Wahabbism by calling it Unitarianism. "Wahabbism and Salafism are a social ideological movement ... and it's all about merging political power with religious piety," he said. "That was an early case of ... political rulers appealing to Islamic principles and Islamic justification for their rule." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #4 Wahabbi Muslims are taqfiri jihadists who use their money and connections as well as the less stable of their sons to expand the writ of their form of Islam to the rest of the world. Tell it to jimmuh carter. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2008-04-27 23:03 |
| #3 and offered to keep elements of the funding deal secret. I find that outrageous and in a better world the good citizens would be calling for his head (in the metaphorical sense, not Muslim one). If the university receives any public money they should be required to provide full disclosure. |
| Posted by: Sninert Black9312 2008-04-27 20:20 |
| #2 Close any institution that takes saudi money and lifetime ban all involved from working in any aspect of education. Fixed... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-04-27 19:11 |
| #1 Wahabbism and Unitarianism??? That's not ignorance or a simple mistake, that's an outright lie. A lie so blatant even little American housewives know it to be so. The Unitarians are about the most peaceful, accepting, inoffensive people on this planer; Wahabbi Muslims are taqfiri jihadists who use their money and connections as well as the less stable of their sons to expand the writ of their form of Islam to the rest of the world. Hand back the money and fire those who supported the deal, tenure or no. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-04-27 12:38 |