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October 22, 2006

Sweden: Muslims Want Black Muslim Minister Deposed

The new government of the center-right in Sweden, led by Friedrik Reinfeldt, came to power on September 17 with a promise to make positive change in Sweden. Reinfeldt, at 41 years old, is the second youngest prime minister in Sweden's history. He headed the "Alliance for Sweden" at the elections, a coalition of his party, the Moderates, with the Christian Democrats, Liberals and Center Party. He placed an openly gay man (Andreas Carlgren of the Center party) as the environment minister, and a man with a pony tail (Anders Borg) as the finance minister. But his controversial placing of an African-born Muslim woman as the integration minister has brought resentment from Muslim groups.

12% of Sweden's population is immigrant, and half of these are Muslim. And already, many Muslims are trying to mount a petition to remove the integration minister, states the Sunday Times.

The minister (pictured) is 37-year old Nyamko Sabuni. She came to Sweden from Burundi when she was 12 years old. During her childhood in Africa her father was frequently jailed for his dissident activities, and in 1980 he sought asylum in Sweden. In 1981, Nyamko and her five siblings followed him with their mother.

Before becoming the integration minister, Nyamko Sabuni was well-known for her controversial views which gave little room for long-held Muslim traditions. In July, as an MP with the Liberal party, she urged that all schoolgirls should be checked to ensure they had not undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), euphemistically called "female circumcision". Though outlawed on Swedish soil since 1982, and subjected to a 1999 amendment which made it illegal to take a girl abroad for this practice, FGM is believed to be more common than is officially recognized. In June this year, a 41-year old man was given a four-month jail sentence for taking his daughter to Somalia in 2002, where she was mutilated. He was the first person to be convicted under the law.

Sabuni's suggestion for gynecological inspections, to be made as part of schools' routine medical checks, was based upon practicalities - the girls subjected to such an operation are usually too scared of their parents to report them to the authorities. Sabuni is well-aware of the climate of fear that attends what she calls "honor culture". She quoted from a study by Stockholm University which claims that 100,000 girls and young women are living under "honor oppression" in Sweden.

She said in July to Expressen newspaper that: "Such examinations not only function as checks, but also give an opportunity to discuss sexuality, women's private parts and typical female diseases."

She also said that state funding for religious schools should be withdrawn, as such institutions can not guarantee to respect children's rights to equality. And on the issue of the Muslim headscarf, or hijab, she announced that girls under 15 should not wear the items.

She claimed: "The Prophet himself is supposed to have said that girls should first hide themselves when they start puberty. Today girls are already wearing headscarves in nursery school. We need to tear down the foundations that honour culture lies on in Sweden."

She also suggested that child marriage and forced marriages should be made illegal, and said that limits should be introduced on dowries.

These notions did not endear her to the Muslim community. When she was made a minister, Kurdo Baksi, a Muslim writer and commentator said: "I am very disappointed that a person whom I consider to be an Islamaphobe has been appointed integration minister. It is a very poor start to a centre-right government's integration policy."

As a minister, she has shown that she does not allow family ties to interfere with her work. Last week, she stopped state funding for the Center Against Racism (CMR) which had annually received 5.5 million kronor ($752,168) since it was set up in 2003. The center is run by her uncle, Mkyabela Sabuni. In April last year, the CMR had claimed there was hidden racism behind a popular brand of ice cream.

The organization had, Nyamko claimed, failed in its mission to counteract racism and xenophobia. "The few times I have heard about their work it has been in connection with some sensation or other," she said.

Last summer, an investigation showed CMR spent more of its funding on attractive furniture for its offices than on combatting racism. And at the same time, three women employees had complained of sexual harassment, and the group's accountant, Saied Tagavi, a Social Democrat politician, had committed electoral fraud.

Nyamko Sabuni said of the CMR closure: "It didn't achieve its aims. It simply didn't do what it set out to do, so I had to pull the plug. My uncle is a good and a competent man, but a whole institute can't be run by one man. He understands that I have to do my job."

On October 21, The Local reported that Nyamko Sabuni wanted immigrants to get a second chance to learn Swedish. She said: "When you come as a refugee you're not ready to be sat in a classroom. Everyone who has finished their course must have a chance to come back."

The Swedish National Agency for Education stated this month that barely a third of students complete the highest level of the "Swedish for Immigrants" course, which is offered to immigrants when they first come to the country.

The Sunday Times reports that Nyamko Sabuni is ambitious. Three years ago, she told a TV show that she would be Sweden's first woman prime minister. She may yet get that chance. Two ministers have already been forced to resign from Friedrik Reinfeldt's cabinet over unpaid television licenses. These are the culture minister, Cecilia Stegö Chilò and the trade minister Maria Borelius. The migration minister Tobias Billström has also said he has not paid his TV license fee for 10 years, and there is pressure for him to resign.

If the government should fall, Sabuni would be willing to replace Friedrik Reinfeldt. She said of her former statement about becoming premier: "I stand by that. It's not something I think about on a daily basis but, if I'm in politics, the ultimate aim has to be to become prime minister."

On the issue of Muslims who are mounting a petition to have her removed from her government post, she is firm. She claims to be neither a "hardliner" nor an "Islamophobe". She says: "I am one of the few who dares to speak out. Sadly, some members of the Muslim community feel picked on. I regret that Muslims feel I am a threat to them. Everybody has a right to practise their religion, but I will never accept religious oppression. And I represent the whole of society, not just the Muslims."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 22, 2006 9:44 AM

Comments

Posted by: Sylvia at October 22, 2006 3:54 PM

Posted by: Giraldus Cambrensis at October 23, 2006 12:17 PM

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