Minister of Justice under fire over remark about introduction of Sharia

The minister of Justice in the Netherlands, Mr. Donner, is under fire over a remark he made about the possibility of introduction the Sharia in the Netherlands. He made his remark, that “if in the Dutch democratic society 2/3 of the population should want to introduce the Sharia than that should be possible because that is the nature of democracy”, during a interview with two journalists of the Dutch newspaper “Vrij Nederland”.

Today the minister is summoned to the House of Commons to explain his remarks. Many politicians regard his remarks inappropriate for a Minister of Justice as they hold the opinion that any party who would like to introduce the Sharia or any other idea which is in contradiction with the fundamentals of democracy should be banned. They expect the Minister of Justice to be of the same believe.

This is again an example of how one line in an interview taken out of context can produce an uproar about nothing. The context within this remark was made was an answer to the question how he thought about the Dutch policy of the acceptance of refuges and other immigrants in Dutch society. While he did not want to make an remark about what he thought of the work of the minister of Immigration he make the remark that the Dutch society should embrace people and groups with other ideas and go into discussion with them. As an example he mentioned that he would have liked to see a person like Abou Jahjah of the Arabic European League (Arabisch-Europese Liga) in Dutch Parlement instead of casting him out. In the same line with that remark he said that “if in the Dutch democratic society 2/3 of the population should want to introduce the Sharia than that should be possible because that is the nature of democracy”.

He did not say he wants to introduce the Sharia and I know he does not want to introduce the Sharia. His remarks only show that Mr. Donner can think in a really straight line and not get confused by emotions and fears.