http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/kuranda-seyit/ Kuranda Seyit is the founder of the Forum on Australia’s Islamic Relations (FAIR) and editor of Aussie Mossie Quarterly News. He is also a documentary film maker and in 2001 he wrote and directed “Always A Visitor” for SBS television. In 2002 he was appointed as the Media Liaison Officer for the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils and the editor of the Australian Muslim News. In 2004 he was selected among the Bulletin Magazine’s SMART 100 people in Australia. He has completed his Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies at Sydney University and is currently an Executive Member of the Sydney Peace Foundation. In 2009 he was the manager of the Auburn Migrant Resource Centre and is an advocate for refugees. Kuranda is a consultant on Muslim community issues and works closely with Muslim youth in the areas of leadership, conflict resolution and personal development. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Grave-crimes-of-desecration/ It has just been confirmed this morning that Australian graves were among those desecrated in Libya. Kuranda Seyit, founder of the forum on Australia’s Islamic Relations, examines the furore that set off this unfortunate turn of events. Last year the mad preacher of Gainesville, The Reverend Terry Jones, created a furore in the Muslim world by his threats and call for a global burning of the Islamic holy book, the Koran. Thankfully, that was averted after some pressure from the Oval Office. Yet, last week some rogue US soldiers have taken this call one step further and burnt copies of the Koran, in all places, Afghanistan. It’s a death wish. The US Army denied that this was deliberate and just a mistake, but do they really think that we are that stupid? Burning any book is really not kosher but burning one’s holy book when you are in a country as an invading force is a big slap in the face. The reality is that they got caught and now they are trying to backtrack. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Kuranda Seyit) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Grave-crimes-of-desecration/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Grave-crimes-of-desecration/#item7929 Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:25:14 +0000 Kuranda Seyit | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dancing-on-graves-immoral-even-if-its-gaddafis/ World leaders and of course, many Libyans, have celebrated the death of Colonel Gaddafi. Many suffered under his brutal regime. There is no doubt Gaddafi was a tyrant and the head of a government known for torture and mass killings of dissidents. He was either complicit or directly aware of major human rights abuses happening under his rule. He also took power of a country without the mandate of his people. He was eccentric and unpredictable and many world leaders accepted him and treated him as their equal, yet none truly admired the man. His death was a cathartic moment for many.  But even though he was a mass murderer and rightly despised, his death should not have been treated in the undignified manner that we saw again and again on our screens. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Kuranda Seyit) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dancing-on-graves-immoral-even-if-its-gaddafis/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dancing-on-graves-immoral-even-if-its-gaddafis/#item6989 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:40:41 +0000 Kuranda Seyit | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-blame-muslims-for-multiculturalisms-failings/ On Anzac Day, I along with about 150 protestors stood across from the Villawood Detention Centre where the crumpled remains of a burnt building, barbed wire and a security guard stood between us and them: the scourge of this naton, the ‘refugee’. The protestors chanted while a lone figure of a detainee on top of a tiled roof squatted, looking on despondently. I wondered if he was thinking what I was thinking: That our brave soldiers who fought in Gallipoli and who today are fighting in Afghanistan, did so to protect our freedoms in the name of humanity. And ironically, while we celebrate those freedoms as a democratic nation, we are locking up people, depriving them of their freedom, their dignity and their common humanity, driving them to acts of insanity. The Immigration Minister, the Prime Minister and the ALP at large may be caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the question of what should be done with asylum seekers; however, Australia not only as a signatory to the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, but as a democracy, should place human rights before politics. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Kuranda Seyit) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-blame-muslims-for-multiculturalisms-failings/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-blame-muslims-for-multiculturalisms-failings/#item5710 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:30:38 +0000 Kuranda Seyit | Author bios | The Punch