London, UK—British Muslims are not willing to give away their votes so cheaply in the May 5 elections, a prominent British Muslim activist said on Monday, May 2.

“Muslim voters are becoming a lot more choosy about who they are going to support,” Inayat Bunglawala, the media officer of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), told IslamOnline.net by phone from London.

He said Muslim voters want to see promises being translated into action plans.

“We want to see clear policies that will help the community and help achieve social justice, both in the UK and overseas,” he said.

On why British Muslim support for the Labour has dramatically fallen, Bunglawala said it is simply because of the Iraq war.

“The illegal war against Iraq has indeed shaken many British Muslims out of their complacencies.”

Before the war, the Labour controlled all 40 parliamentary seats in districts where Muslims accounted for 10 percent or more of the population, according to data from the MCB, the main representative Muslim body in the UK.

Then last year it suffered a stinging by-election defeat to the Liberal Democrats, the only one of the UK’s three major political parties to oppose the war.

Now the war is rearing its head over the May 5 polls especially after the emergency of a leaked government memo, which revealed that Prime Minister Tony Blair had already committed himself to a regime change in Iraq by force eight months before the invasion-turned-occupation of the oil-rich Arab country.

“More Decisive”

Asked whether the Muslim vote could lead to a change in election course, the Muslim activist said it will be at least “more decisive”.

“In the 1997 and 2002 elections, the Labour received the lion share of the Muslim vote; but now it can’t be taken for granted,” said Bunglawala, also a Shura member of the Islamic Society of Britain.

“If the competition is very close, the British Muslim vote will be more decisive,” he added emphatically.

Bunglawala said the recent Labour policies have raised questions about the traditional Muslim loyalty to the party.

But he added that the Muslim vote could be divided in the upcoming elections.

“The Labour is more sympathetic to minority and Muslim issues, but again the Iraq war and anti-terror laws alienated Muslim voters.

“And the Liberal Democrats have indeed opposed the war, but they as well opposed legislation to outlaw religious hatred, and they in addition are the least supportive of faith schools,” Bunglawala said.

He said it remains to be seen what will happen on May 5.

Bunglawala said that Muslim candidates on party slates may have divergent opinions and motivations.

“But the sure thing is that they will definitely defend the Muslim issues in the parliament as they are united on major issues like the Iraq war and minority rights,” he said.

He went on: “Labour MP Mohammad Sarwar, for instance, has come under heavy pressure to support the war but he voted against it at the end of the day.”

Some 52 Muslims candidates have so far been selected by major parties in Britain to stand in 41 of the country’s 659 parliamentary constituencies.

The Liberal Democrats are fielding the most, 20 candidates, the Tories have selected 13 candidates and the Labour has only eight on its election list, including two current MPs seeking re-election.

The nascent Respect party, led by former Labour MP George Galloway, has selected nine Muslims out of a total of 26 candidates.

Winnable Seats

Bunglawala said it is not a matter of the number of Muslim candidates on election slates of different parties, but the question is how they can be placed in winnable seats.

“Only one Muslim candidate on the Tories slate, Ali Miraj, stands a chance to win,” he said.

“As for the Labour, three Muslim candidates on its list stand also a good chance to make it to the parliament: Sadiq Khan, Shaid Malik and Yasmin Kureishi.”

Asked on Respect’s anti-war candidate Salama Yacoub, who could be the first veiled Muslim woman in the lower house of parliament, Bunglawala said she is a very good, articulate and talented candidate but unlikely to win.

“She is facing a cut-throat competition in her constituency from the Labour and the Liberal Democrats, which both have fielded Muslim candidates in her constituency,” he said.

Among the constituencies with heavy Muslim populations are Bradford West, Bradford North, Ilford South, Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath, Leicester South, West and East Ham and Blackburn.

The Muslim minority in Britain is estimated at some 1.7 million people.

Preoccupations

On the domestic front, anti-terror laws and state-funded Islamic schools are key among the preoccupations of the British Muslims in the general elections.

Thousands of British Muslims marched Saturday, April 30, in London against anti-terror laws approved in March by 309 votes to 233 thanks to Labour’s large majority in the House of Commons.

“These laws and right-wing media have stigmatized and demonized the Muslim community in Britain,” Bunglawala said.

He added that recent studies made more pressing the need for state-funded Islamic schools on a par with other faith schools.

“Such studies showed that Muslim students are under-achieving in state-run schools, but they were getting high marks in Islamic schools,” aid the activist.

“So what we are calling for is equality in treatment, given there are only five state-funded Islamic schools in the country compared to 50 Jewish schools, mostly in London.”

The MCB has issued a “vote card” containing the major concerns and pressing questions that might be posed by Muslim voters to their prospective candidates.

It suggests questions like “What positive action would you and your party take to enable Muslims to achieve equality of opportunity? And will you promote a foreign policy that is based on justice and fairness?”

“Ignorant”

On few British Muslims seeing election as an act of apostasy, Bunglawala described such statements as “ignorant”.

“Mainstream Muslim scholars said it is a duty on British Muslims to participate in the upcoming election not only to secure the interests of Muslims but also to fulfill the Qur’anic command which says ‘enjoin the good and forbid the wrong’,” he said.

Bunglawala noted that the London Muslim Center is hosting a press conference on Tuesday, May 3, for prominent Muslim scholars from different schools and trends, the Sunni, the Shiite and the Salafi, on the importance of the Muslim vote.

“They will issue a joint statement calling on the British Muslims to vote and join the parties and become active in those parties, so that Muslims voice can be heard.”

Bunglawala said it is high time that the Muslim minority in Britain worked in unison.

“Jews, for instance, are making up some 217,000 of the country‘s population, but they are absolutely more active than Muslims,” he said.

The activist added that Jews have 20 MPs in the parliament and in terms of population percentage, they should have only three MPs.

“We don’t want Muslims to be a voiceless community in Britain,” he said.

Source:http://www.islam-online.net/