THOSE three words are the summary of what is wrong with the world today, why hate crimes are allowed to flourish and the politicians and media who fan this sentiment for their own benefits.

Both the Australian and New Zealand prime ministers confirmed that the white terrorist, Brenton Tarrant, was not on the terror watchlist of either countries despite spewing hate online for a few years, which now culminated in the heinous act of killing 50 (so far) and injuring more than 30 Muslims who were worshipping in two separate mosques.

What both said just confirmed what we, Muslims knew all along, that the word terrorist is exclusively reserved to describe a Muslim by intelligence agencies, media operators and politicians. Despite a healthy dossier of racist filth spewed online for many years by the coward, he is not being monitored by any security agency in both sides of Tasmania. How can you monitor someone who is white, blond and blue eyes? They are not terrorists, far from it, they are one of us, a normal party-loving godless Australian bloke! Fair dinkum! Muslims on their way to their obligatory prayers are stopped more often than the highly-strung Friday night revellers in Northbridge because they are black/brown, dressed differently and do not fit into Australian culture.

I will not waste my time discussing outright racists like Australian senators Fraser Anning and Pauline Hanson. The bigger issue of labelling are coming from your middle of the road politicians namely MP Peter Dutton, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former prime minister Tony Abbott. They have been spewing all sorts of hatred towards Muslims, migrants and refugees, which in turn give free licence to local right-wing activists like far-right leader Blair Contrell and their international brethren like Milo Yiannopoulos to preach their hatred openly. The rot starts from the head not the tail. Your act of condemning the terrorist and senator rang hollow. It is the pot calling the kettle black!

The media mainly owned by Rupert Murdoch is the biggest hate factory in Australia. Crime? Lebanese Muslims. Mugging? Sudanese Muslims. Domestic violence? Pakistan Muslims. The biggest problem in Australia, the meth epidemic, sweep it under the carpet because “No worries, it will not sell newspapers, mate!”. What sells newspapers is creating a culture of fear and blaming everything on the Muslim terrorists.

It is time for average Australians and security agencies to take a hard look at themselves. Yes they are white, blue-eyed and blond and they are terrorists. And they are one you, Australians!  – March 18, 2019.

* Amran Ariffin is a Muslim Malaysian living in Perth for the past four years.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.