Moderate Islam 'forced on Australian Muslims'

 Nine MSN

A spokesman for international Islamist group Hizb Ut-Tahrir has said democracy is an illusion and that the government is forcing moderate Islam on Australian Muslims. Uthman Badar told the TODAY show the illusion of secular democracy "short-sold the people".

"I think people have come to see that democracy is more of an illusion in that it secures the interests not of the people but of the economic elite," he said.

"What we're saying is the secular democratic process has short-sold the people and it's better that people go back to the grassroots."

Mr Badar said the government was funding inter-faith dialogues and institutions in Sydney and Melbourne that promote moderate Islam.

"All people should accept that it's not acceptable for a state to tell people this is what you should believe and this is what you should not believe," he said.

"The issue is the government should not be taking sides in saying 'This is the Islam we have chosen for you — it's a secular, apolitical, localised Islam'.

"'If you do anything else, here's the anti-terror laws, we're going to chuck you in jail.'"

More than 500 participants at a Hizb Ut-Tahrir conference in Western Sydney heard on Sunday that Australia was a "god-forsaken country" and that moderate Islam was a "perverted concoction of western governments".

The group is banned in many parts of the Middle East but operates legally in Australia and in 40 other countries.

Hizb Ut-Tahrir supports the establishment of a Islamic state but rejects the use of violence to achieve it.