Opinions

Australian elections: Why I refused to be part of the assassination of Kevin Rudd – Somali Australian

August 22, 2010   ·   1784810 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2Faustralian-elections-why-i-refused-to-be-part-of-the-assassination-of-kevin-rudd-somali-australian-17848Australian+elections%3A+Why+I+refused+to+be+part+of+the+assassination+of+Kevin+Rudd+-+Somali+Australian2010-08-23+00%3A59%3A13Hassan+Alihttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D17848

On Saturday 21^st of August the Australian people went to the polls as they did for centuries to elect their next constitutional leader. However unlike before, no one was really excited about this election — again and again people were urged to vote.

Australia is normally a stable democracy in the region, however if one does not vote he or she might face a hefty fine from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). A flawed policy in my opinion and not a true democracy.

I for one did not vote this election and I have no regrets. I also know I am not alone; many like me will properly receive a letter from the AEC sometime this week. In fact, a finding by the AEC stated over 5 per cent of the nearly 12 million ballots counted, did not vote properly, most of them left blank or incorrectly filled papers in the voting boxes. These figures constitute the highest informal vote cast in 25 years and some have dubbed this as “Mark Latham effect”, after the former Labor leader urged people not to vote on Saturday during his debut on 60 Minutes show.

So let me explain where I stand and perhaps my case, not to take part.

As an Australian with all the privilege and rights, I had the opportunity to vote for one of the two major political parties in the country; the centre-left Labor party (ALP) of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Liberal-National conservative camp of Tony Abbott.

On Saturday, instead I went on a short trip to Geelong, a port city some 75 kilometres outside of Melbourne. We enjoyed the sun, the view of the town and some coffee while everyone else formed queues outside schools, community halls and sport venues.

I did not see the point of standing in a queue for hours to elect a leader that will properly be ousted by their camp or factions or a handful of men to determine who becomes the new Prime Minister. I took a good rest and now I bet a lot of people wished they did too.

I came to this decision, not to take part in this year’s election, after my hourable and elected Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd was assassinated by his own Labor bloc. Having being migrated from what was commonly known as Somalia, now Somaliland and Somalia, I understand the true meaning of factionalism and coup de’etat.

Yes, never really have I thought an internal-political coup de’etat could be staged in democratic and prosperous Australia against an elected Prime Minister; it was a clear revolt against a constitutional leader without the use of military. Thank God, the Australian army is an independent body, otherwise like Somalia; Australia would now be under a transitional Gillard-government that only controls parts of the capital Canberra.

In 2007, the people of Australia elected Kevin Rudd of Brisbane as their new PM, after more than a decade of Liberal-National coalition domination in Australian politics. The hopeless Labor Party, which comprises of trade unions and other underground factions for the first time came to power since 1996. Mr Rudd quickly followed his election success with two crucial promises; an apology to the Aboriginal stolen generation, which the Liberals stubbornly refused for the decade-long they ruled Australia — and the signing of the Kyoto Protocol.

Allow me to shed some light on the issue of stolen indigenous people from the perspective of a Somali immigrant who is also black like them. The Australian government, exclusively and entirely of white race, forcefully removed Aboriginal children from their families, converted them to Christianity with force — sort of like what Talibans do with non-Muslims in Afghanistan from 1909 to 1969. All they got was an apology and only Kevin Rudd had the guts to apologize and heal the wounds of many indigenous Australians. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute, imagine your children were stolen and the only man who was brave enough to apologize did not get the opportunity to face your vote. Now, how do Australian indigenous thank Mr Kevin Rudd if their right to cast their vote was taken away from them by ousting him? Shameful warlords! again they took something away from them.

Mr Rudd also spearheaded a stimulus package that was largely envied in the developed world that has kept Australia out of recession during the Lehman Brother crisis. As a result, Australia continued in the path of its last 30 years of growth. He awarded normal consumers with $900-spend money unlike the Obama administration that only funded the banking giants of Wall street.

After running the country for three years from his office, he enjoyed ecstatic and widespread support across Australia and his apology to our indigenous people won the heart of the nation. As a prime minister, his approval ratings soured and achieved the highest ratings of any prime minister in history.

But his time in office did not come without controversy and fatal errors. Perhaps Rudd’s greatest undoing is his sausage-flavored bill of the emissions trading scheme (ETS), which saw him side with his arch enemies — the climate change denying Liberals and in the process alienated the Greens. In the start of this year, he abandoned the scheme all together and further alienated the Australian public – who questioned if he really stood for anything.

Then there were other minor slip-ups such as the so called ‘super-profit tax’ sham, where he planned to tax miners by 40 per cent under his new economic reforms introduced by former Labor prime minister, Paul Keating. This move left Australia’s mining giants in Western Australia in the cold.

With his ratings at all-time low, the factions in the Labor camp, who all long wanted the downfall of Kevin Rudd – decided to oust him and impose Julia Gillard on us. They thought Australia would respond positively to the notion of having the ‘first female prime minister.’ How wrong were they? They under estimated the people of Australia who have long past the gender debates. They really thought they could manipulate the public and whenever they make fatal errors they could simply get rid of their leader – but keep repeating the same mistakes with different faces.

After weeks of bitter campaigning, the Australian people responded by dissolving the government of Julia Gillard by locking her and her opponent in a limbo. After the nationwide poll on Saturday was counted, the result failed to produce a clear winner.

Now with 76 seats needed to form a coalition government, the Liberal conservatives and Labor trade unions are confused, each scratching their heads and trying to win the votes of five independent minorities in the Senate. Tony Abbot’s Liberals are locked at 70-73 seats with Julia Gillard’s Labor.

The good news is Labor got good belting in Kevin Rudd’s Queensland, a swing state. It amazes me the Labor warlords would cave in to the mining bosses of Western Australia, a state with only 59 single-member electoral districts while Kevin Rudd’s Queensland has 89 electoral districts. The gamble is a swing against Labor; bye, bye Unions! An online poll by Sydney Morning Herald that is still in progress indicated almost 45 per cent of the more than 10,000 votes said the assassination of Kevin Rudd was the single biggest downfall of the Labor party.

This is the first time Australia has had a hung parliament in 70 years and as a Somali-Australian, I am totally pleased with the outcome.

The political assassination of Kevin Rudd on the night of 23 June 2010 by factional warlords of the Labor Party coincided with the 50^th anniversary of Somali independence. The two Somali states, Somaliland and Somalia, formed the Somali Republic after gaining their independence from Great Britain and Italy respectively on 26 June and 1 July in 1960.

At a time of unity, great hope and optimism in new and united Somali Republic; the democratic leader, Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke was gunned down on October 15, 1969. Everything died with him. It was a bloodless coup too but the country lost its most important principle; democracy. The country would be under major-General Mohamed Siad Bare for the next 20 odd years until his downfall in 1991. Most people in Australia, like the rest of the West only know the Somalia of Black Hawk Down or the present day pirate infested horn of Africa nation. But they are unaware that Somalia was one of the most promising democracies in the black continent during the end of colonialism.

Today it’s not all bad news either, the northern most tip, commonly known as Somaliland has managed to restore its democratic institutions and few days after the ousting of Mr Rudd has managed to hold a democratic vote which was largely hailed as free and fair by the international community led by the U.S. and UK governments. See Australian-native Doug Henrie’s article; Somalia: Africa’s future.

I feel, instead of issuing a hefty fine and warning letters, which could save innocent trees; the AEC needs to rescue the Australian democracy from the hands of the handful warlords in Canberra. The Labor’s gamble and its gender-exploitation in this country have all backfired on them and in the process made sham of Australia’s democracy. The AEC, the senate, the governor-general and other concerned bodies need to address the flaws in Australia’s democratic institution before next time, they question the democracies of others including Iraq, Indonesia, Solomon Islands and East Timor.

Its clear Australia does not care about the gender of its prime minister, the rightful thing for Labor to do is to concede defeat and gracefully make the way for the equally unpopular Tony Abbot. At least, they respect Australian values, in particular their leaders. To me and many other Australians, even if Julia convinces the independent senators to form a government with her; she is still a factional leader not an elected prime minister.

KUDOS to all those who didn’t take part in the political assassination of a constitutional leader including Mark Latham!

For Kevin Rudd and in the memory of Abdirahman Ali Sharmarke, 40 years since his assassination.

By Qalinle Hussein | OPINIONS, Monday, 23 August 2010 – Somalilandpress

Qalinle Hussein is an occasional editor at Somalilandpress and is based in Melbourne. He can be reached at: Qalinle2010@gmail.com.


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By Hassan Ali

Tags: Australia, Election, Kevin Rudd, labor, Liberal party