Ever since the 9/11 incident, the Christian west's views of Islam changed tremendously. In fact, the Christian west has never had any positive impression of Islam. The 9/11 incident made it worse.
Anti-Islam postings and comments on forum pages and social networks on the Internet sprouted like mushrooms after a heavy rain. Islam is viewed as a religion of terror. A religion that advocates war, killings of innocent lives, suicide bombers, suppression of human rights, etc. The Western media - a bastion of supposedly impartiality - also took a swipe at Islam. They had a field day in painting a picture of Islam as a religion that belongs to the dark ages. They took pot-shot at the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). All these they claimed in the name of freedom of speech and expression.
This anti-Islam fever is not lost on some Singaporeans. If the postings and comments on forum pages on the Internet are anything to go by, then it is rather worrisome that some Singaporeans have jumped on the band-wagon. These anti-Islam sentiments make me really wonder how united are Singaporeans. Not surprisingly, these Singaporeans are also racist. Unlike the Westerners, these Singaporeans hide behind a false moniker and are faceless. They are not few in numbers. It makes me wonder whether the person standing next to me on the train is a racist, anti-Islam fellow Singaporean. Or could it be that person who took the same lift as me; or a parent of my children's classmate; or the person having lunch/dinner at the table next to me at the hawker centre or food court; or someone standing in the queue at the check-out counter at the supermarket; or it could be anyone. It really gives you the shivers.
The enemy within is more dangerous than a threat from the outside.
