Far right, white supremacists are a threat to the failed policy of multiculturalism, not national security: Muslim terrorists threaten national security, even Muslim governments say so.

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                                            It is important to understand how jihadism became
                                            a transnational threat that even Muslim governments
                                             had to (belatedly) confront

                  

In the words of SBS and others: 

The country's top intelligence chief (ASIO's Mike Burgess) warns that Neo-Nazis are becoming one of Australia's most difficult security threats.

In his first annual threat assessment from the nation's capital, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess took aim at the "hateful ideology" of right-wing extremists.

"In suburbs around Australia, small cells regularly meet to salute Nazi flags, inspect weapons, train in combat and share their hateful ideology," he said.

SBS and others have tried to portray right-wing extremists as a threat equal to if not greater than that from Muslim terrorists. Policy makers, ASIO and the AFP, seem intent on diverting resources towards checking the far right threat, but unlike their approach to jihadis, there has been no discussion about "root causes". 

This is despite the fact that white supremacists and the far right being clear that they are primarily opposed to the failed policy of multiculturalism, a sentiment shared by many Australians. 

Muslim terrorists on the other hand seem more concerned about their co-religionist, and have justified acts of terror here by reference  to perceived wrongs against Muslims in other parts of the world. It is for that reason that security agencies in even Malaysia and Indonesia consider Muslim terrorists a threat to national security. White supremacists are not considered a threat, and are hardly if ever mentioned in their government and media reports on terrorism. 

By diverting resources away from Muslim terrorism ASIO and AFP run the risk of giving Muslim terrorists room and time to consolidate their resources in Australia. That will heighten the threat to national security and to Muslim countries in this region.

Australia has already been shown to be a source of financing for Muslim terrorists including ISIS. Any failure to disrupt Muslim terrorists here will not be appreciated by Australians and others in this region, including the citizens of Muslim majority Malaysia and Indonesia. 

END