MUSLIM UNEMPLOYMENT IN QUEENSLAND:
IS IT A PROBLEM?
Researchers at Queensland University of Technology
invite your participation in a consultation process
to discuss how the employment of Muslims in
Queensland can be improved.
Contact them if you
can:
Spare the time to fill out a survey questionnaire Offer advice or suggestions on the difficulties
experienced by Muslim job-seekers Provide details of your own experience in seeking
employment Attend a focus group discussion
We offer our condolences to Dr. Nazir
Mahomed and his Family on the passing away of his
mother, Mrs. Sarah Aboobaker Mahomed, in Zimbabwe
during the week.
Foster family Wanted
A recent convert to
Islam in Toowoomba with several children of ages 4-12 is
desperately looking for a Muslim foster family to help
with two of her boys.
If you are willing to be
foster family or if you know someone who may be willing,
please contact Tarek Omar on
omart@usq.edu.au
A
View from the USA
New
Citizenship Test Sparks Debate
Dr Ameer Ali with
PM
MUSLIMS are outraged that
prospective citizens will have to acknowledge the
Judeo-Christian tradition as the basis of Australia's
values system.
Australia's peak Muslim body said the proposed
citizenship question - revealed in the Herald Sun
- was disturbing and potentially divisive.
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Dr
Ameer Ali said the "Abrahamic tradition" or "universal
values" would be less divisive ways of describing the
nation's moral base.
Dr Ali said use of the term Judeo-Christian was the
result of "WWII guilt", and before 1945 Australia would
have been called only Christian.
"That
question must be rephrased," he said.
Dr Ali was backed by Democrats senator Lyn Allison, who
said the answer to the question was highly debatable.
But Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews stood firm on the
merit of the question.
Mr Andrews said Australia's Judeo-Christian heritage was
indisputable historical fact.
"We are not asking people to subscribe to the
Judeo-Christian ethic," he said.
"We are simply stating a fact that this is part of the
heritage of Australia in terms of its foundation.
"This is not an exercise in political correctness. It is
trying to state what has been the case and still is the
case."
But Health Minister Tony Abbott confused the issue,
saying the modern Australian values system was secular,
or of no particular religion.
The Herald Sun yesterday revealed 20 key questions,
developed in consultation with Mr Andrews, that are
likely to be asked of would-be citizens.
Mr Andrews said the test, to begin by September, would
help immigrants integrate into society better.
"We celebrate diversity and people are free to continue
their own traditions, but we are also very insistent
that we have to build and maintain social cohesion," he
said.
Dr Ali said he would request a meeting with Mr Andrews
to discuss the question.
"It is the wrong message we are sending," he said.
Senator Allison said the test was pointless.
"I don't see what it's going to achieve," she said.
"It doesn't say anything about people's character,
whether they are going to be good citizens."
Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said Labor
agreed in principle with the test, but wanted details
The Asian influence on British business
is staggering. From the entrepreneurial types such as
the Jatania brothers, to Vodafone chief executive Arun
Sarin at the helm of a FTSE 100 company, and now Asian
companies stalking their European rivals, this vast
continent is making its presence felt at every level of
UK plc.
The UK's Daily Telegraph published
details of Britain's richest Asians (see below).
The list includes people with companies based in the UK
who do all, or a significant amount, of their business
there.
The list appeared at the glittering Eastern Eye Asian
business awards, held at the London Hilton on Park Lane.
Spinder Dhaliwal, of the University of Surrey, who
complied the list, says: "What I find exciting is the
bravery of it all. You see these entrepreneurial heroes.
They never stand still, they are all going forward. It's
that pace, that inner confidence. We've been here three
decades. There is no inherited wealth on the list. They
have really used their business acumen and broken
through a lot of barriers and prejudices."
Britain's Richest
Indians
01 Mike Jatania and family
Worth £850m
Uganda-born Jatania and his three brothers, George, Vin
and Danny, run the cosmetics giant Lornamead. The
Lornamead Group is a privately owned international
manufacturer and marketer of cosmetics brands.
It specialises in purchasing under-used brands and
companies, re-energising management and reinvigorating
the organisations.
Its portfolio includes big names such as Yardley, Lipsil,
Body Mist, Sara Lee, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Henkel
Schwarzkopf.
The company has its international headquarters in the UK
but maintains offices in the Middle East, America and
Germany, and distributes brands in more than 50
countries.
In February 2007, Lornamead established
new offices in India, as it starts significantly to
increase its business in this market, with a particular
focus on Yardley and Finesse.
02 Lord Swraj Paul and family
Worth £750m
India-born Lord Paul, chairman of the Caparo Group, is a
leading businessman and an active member of the House of
Lords. He came to the UK in 1966 and founded Caparo, a
private diversified, UK-based group specialising
principally in the manufacture and supply of steel and
engineering products for industry.
03 Vijay and Bhikhu Patel Worth £500m
The Patel brothers arrived in the UK from Kenya when
Vijay was just 16. They now head up Waymade Healthcare,
a wholesale pharmaceuticals business. In an attempt to
build the Asian Glaxo, the brothers have created a
subsidiary, Amdipharm, which aims to develop and launch
new drugs.
04 Gulu Lalvani and family
Worth £450m
Karachi-born Lalvani is the founder and chairman of
Binatone, one of the world's largest manufacturers of
digital cordless phones. Lalvani founded Binatone in
Britain in 1958 with his brother Partap, naming it after
their sister, Bina.
05 Jasminder Singh and family Worth £360m
Tanzania-born luxury hotel boss Singh is chairman and
chief executive of one of the most successful hotel
chains in Britain, the Edwardian Radisson Group.
06 Tom Singh
Worth £350m
Singh founded New Look in 1969. It is now the
third-largest womenswear retailer in Britain behind
Marks & Spencer and Next, and the second-biggest women's
footwear retailer.
07 Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev
Worth £350m
Sachdev formed Life Style Care with his wife Pratibha in
1987. He sold it 11 years later, making £25m from the
family's 85pc stake. Having recently sold his second
company, in nursing homes, he is now planning a third.
08 Sir Anwar Pervez and family
Worth £250m
Sir Anwar began his career in the food business in 1963,
when he opened a mini supermarket in Earls Court. He has
since built an empire to become the "Cash and Carry"
king with Bestway, a 50-warehouse operation in Britain,
which employs around 4,500 people.
09 Firoz Kassam
Worth £240m
A hotels and leisure magnate, and the former owner of
Oxford United FC, Kassam is famous for his eponymous
stadium, a 12,500-seater on the edge of Oxford, which
includes a hotel, cinema, bowling alley, gym, and
restaurants.
10 Navin and Varsha Engineer
Worth £220m
Engineer and his wife Varsha already have succession
planning in place for the family's pharmaceuticals
business Chemidex, with both children studying medicine.
11 Bharat and Ketan Mehta
Worth £200m
The Kenya-born Mehta brothers are proof that a low
profile is not the same as low achievement. Their
fortune is built on their business, Necessity Supplies,
which specialises in parallel importing.
12 Abdul Alimahomed and family
Worth £150m
Birmingham-based Alimahomed recently sold his packaging
company Europackaging to MidOcean Partners in a deal
thought to be worth £170m-£190m, netting the family a
tidy £100m windfall.
13 Nat Puri and family
Worth £130m
Said to be Nottingham's richest man, Nathu Puri has
built Melton Medes Group into a business empire in
packaging, paper, engineering, textiles and plastics, in
Germany, China, Poland and Hungary.
14 Dinesh Dhamija
Worth £120m
After a spell at IBM, Dhamija started in business with a
small stall in west London selling cheap flights to
budget travellers. He founded Dabin Travel in 1980 and
Flightbookers in 1983. He has headed ebookers.com since
June 1999.
15 Shami Ahmed and family
Worth £115m
Ahmed started out as a market trader in Burnley and went
on to found the Joe Bloggs brand, which employs more
than 2,000 people. Outside fashion he invests in
properties across London and companies such as Austin
Reed.
16 Rajan and Sanjay Kumar
Worth £100m
The Kumars' Manchester-based business has grown from an
initial investment of just £33 to an international
multi-million-pound fashion distribution empire, Rajan
Fashions. The company supplies chains from Zara to JC
Penney.
17 Harpal Matharu and family
Worth £100m
Harpal remains one of the top 20 hoteliers in the
country with his Global Grange business. He incorporated
the company in 1980 and it has been resilient despite
fluctuating conditions over the years. Its latest London
project is a 200-bed hotel converted from a Ministry of
Defence building.
18 Surinder Arora and family
Worth £95m
One of the top hoteliers in the country, Surinder opened
the Arora International at Heathrow in 1999, the first
hotel in Britain purpose-built for airline crew. He and
his family own hotels near Heathrow and Gatwick airports
and their businesses have survived well despite
difficult times in the travel and property industries.
19 Rita and Rahul Sharma
Worth £95m
Rita Sharma started her own business to escape a job
that bored her. She built Worldwide Journeys from a tiny
Oxford Street office and is now one of the richest women
in London. Her accountant husband, Rahul, quit his job
to join her and the business now employs more than 100
staff.
20 Iqbal Ahmed and family
Worth £90m
After arriving in Manchester with his family in the
early 1970s, Iqbal and his brothers, Kamal and Bilal,
set up Iqbal Brothers to sell tropical fruit to
wholesale caterers. They diversified into frozen fish
and now run Seamark, best known for the Mr Prawn brand.
In the next few issues of CCN we will
highlight the most powerful British Asian Women and
British Asians in politics.
Feminist, socialist,
devout Muslim: woman who has thrown Denmark into turmoil
Parliamentary candidate, 25, finds herself at centre of
Europe-wide controversy
Danish parliamentary candidate Asmaa
Abdol-Hamid.
In the land that launched the cartoons
war between Islam and the west, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid finds
herself on the frontline, gearing up for a new battle.
The 25-year-old social worker, student and town
councillor describes herself as a feminist, a democrat,
and a socialist. She has gay friends, opposes the death
penalty, supports abortion rights, and could not care
less what goes on in other people's bedrooms. In short,
a tolerant Scandinavian and European.
She is also a Palestinian and a devout Muslim who
insists on wearing a headscarf, who refuses, on
religious grounds, to shake hands with males, and who is
bidding fair to be the first Muslim woman ever to enter
the Folketing, the Danish parliament in Copenhagen.
A doctor from Afghanistan living in
Brisbane is in need of employment. If you think you can
help or need more information email Mahmood Khan
at
mahmoudkhan@hotmail.com.
......and now a word
from our sponsors....Siitra
The CCN
Culinary Corner
RECIPE
CHICKEN CORN SOUP
1 cup chicken breast – cubed - 1 tsp ginger/ garlic - 1
Tbsp ghee - 1 tsp pepper - 1 tsp ground green chillies -
1 tsp salt - 2 tsp mustard powder - 1 cinamon stick - 1
tin cream style corn - 1 liter milk - 2 Tbsp flour - 60g
Butter - 1 small tin cream.
Method
In a pot place the chicken and the ingredients marked
with an asterisk Braise and simmer until the spices are
well integrated with the meat. Add a little more water
and allow all to boil together. Add in the corn and
milk. Make a white sauce with flour and butter and add
it into the pot and simmer. Just before serving add in
cream and a grinding of black pepper, this will really
pep up the soup.
COOKING TIP
Roast saffron very slightly before crushing into milk or
water, for better absorption and colour
Source: Radio Islam
Newsletter - Thursday, 17 May 2007
Do you have a recipe to share with
CCN readers?
Send in your favourite recipe to
theteam@crescentsofbrisbane.org and who
knows, you could be our "guest chef" for a future
edition of CCN.
The CCN Chuckle
A junior manager, a
senior manager and their boss are on their way to a
meeting. On their way through a park, they come across a
wonder lamp. They rub the lamp and a ghost appears. The
ghost says, "Normally, one is granted three wishes but
as you are three, I will allow one wish each."
So the eager senior
manager shouted, I want the first wish. I want to be in
the Bahamas, on a fast boat and have no worries."
Pfufffff, and he was gone.
Now the junior
manager could not keep quiet and shouted, "I want to be
in Florida with plenty of food and drinks."
Pfufffff, and he
was also gone.
The boss calmly
said, "I want those two idiots back in the office after
lunch!"
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Disclaimer
Articles and opinions appearing in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Crescents of Brisbane team, CCN, its Editor or its Sponsors, particularly if they eventually turn out to be libelous, unfounded, objectionable, obnoxious, offensive, slanderous and/or downright distasteful.
It is the usual policy of CCN to include from time to time, notices of events that some readers may find interesting or relevant. Such notices are often posted as received. Including such messages or providing the details of such events does not necessarily imply endorsement of the contents of these events by either CCN or Crescents of Brisbane Inc.
