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Politics : The Truth About Islam -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ichy Smith who wrote (2655)	10/26/2006 9:58:33 PM
From: Land Shark	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20106

21 October, 2006 PHILIPPINES Muslim MPs push law against religious discrimination by Santosh Digal The Philippines’ House of Representatives has approved a bill outlawing actions based on racial and religious hatred. Politicians claim the Muslim minority is subject to stigmatization and branded as terrorist. Manila (AsiaNews) – Muslim MPs in the Philippines have called on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to qualify as “urgent” a draft bill outlawing racial and religious hatred against the country’s minorities. Of particular concern is the Muslim community that makes up 8% of the population of 84 million. Muslims are concentrated mostly in the south on the island of Mindanao. Despite government efforts to curb discrimination, Muslims have been stereotyped as terrorists and fundamentalists especially in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States as well as the decades-long Muslim insurgency in Mindanao. The House committee on national cultural minorities recently unanimously approved House Bill 5837, titled the "Anti-Religious and Racial Profiling Act of 2006," for a second reading. The measure, authored by Lanao del Sur Rep. Faysah Dumarpa, prohibits acts of religious or racial discrimination against Filipino minorities such as "unnecessary, unjustified, illegal or degrading searches." Penalties include imprisonment for up to two years and fines ranging from 200 to 6,000 pesos. Discrimination in job openings are also criminalized by the bill, as well as refusing entry to restaurants, hotels and other establishments merely on the basis of a person’s "traditional but peculiar attire”. Dumarpa complained that “Muslims are often the victims of racial profiling or discrimination, and this has increased after 2001… We Muslims are always the usual suspects whenever something wrong happens in the world. Everybody must understand that Muslims are followers of the Islamic faith, which abhors acts of violence and injustice.”