F R O M T H E D E S K O F Roland Rocchiccioli

The cold-blooded murder of my friend of 44-years – Sisto Malaspina, by a radicalised, fundamentalist, Somalian Islamist has caused me to question and reflect, seriously.

UNEQUIVOCALLY, the majority of Muslims are good people. It is only the rotten apples in the barrel – those who have been radicalised – who seek to cause problems.

We should not engage in – or even consider – a hate campaign against all Australian Muslims – that would be racist, counterproductive, destructive, totally wrong, and illegal. This is a civilised country, and that is not how a civilised a nation ought behave. Countless Muslim families have arrived and made their lives in Australia. Like their Australian-born neighbours, they harbour dreams for themselves and their children; however, there is no argument, Christianity (and we are a Christian country; our head of State, Queen Elizabeth, is the Defender of the Faith, and Australia’s patron saint is Our Lady Help of Christians) and Islam, are categorically, in every conceivable aspect of their religious ethos and dogma, diametrically opposed. The tenets of Christianity are, to Islam, what crude oil is to water.

It is crucial we should separate the moderate practicing Muslims from the Islamic jihadists; those misguided, delusional, vile, opportunistic followers who harbour in their hearts the burning oil of hatred, and whose intent is evil – regardless. They are the terrorists who would destroy our society for their own distorted perceptions of the world, and of the Qur’an, which, according to Islamic scholars is the unaltered and final revelation of God, and the verses are to be followed literally with no room for a modern interpretation; a dogmatism which leads many down the road to fundamentalism, and terrorism. The Islamic application of ‘infidel’ to other faiths is pejorative.

My friend, Sisto Malaspina, was murdered by a deranged, fundamentalist Islamist. Typically, he offered assistance when it was most needed. He died in the street. He was 74. His loss is such a waste because never was there a kinder, gentler, and more caring man, than Sisto.

He was born in Italy and came to Australia in 1963. In 1974 – the year we met – he, and his business partner, Nino Pangrazio, took over the ownership of Pellergrini’s Espresso Bar, which opened in 1954, and was one of the few Italian cafés in Bourke Street. Over the years I have been possibly 750-times. The enthusiastic greeting never varied: “Bello Rolando, come stai?” Sisto would come out from behind the counter, throw his arms around me, and give me a big hug and a kiss. When my mother, Beria, was alive, Sisto would, invariably say to me as I was leaving: “A lasagne for bella Mama.”

He knew she loved his lasagne. He was a special man, and always remembered what you were doing in terms of work.

His tragic death is incomprehensible, and such a bloody waste. It is difficult not to hate the mongrel who murdered your friend.

Australia is a philosophically acquiescent country with a religious tolerance not found, nor permitted, in any Islamic territory. The religious freedoms afforded Islamists in Australia would not be granted to Christians in Islamabad. A Christian chapel, similar to the prayer rooms we are expected to provide in the workplace, would not be considered in an Islamic state. The Imams, and the leaders of the Islamic community in Australia, must be held accountable. They must be pressured to take meaningful action; to silence and eradicate radical preachers.

Given the degree of sway and power they wield within their communities, they have a religious duty to the people of the Commonwealth of Australia to control their followers, and their youth. Islam is a draconian faith which constrains the daily minutiae of its believers; their entire modus operandi is regulated by their religiosity. Australia is not the country for anyone wanting to live under sharia law.

It can only be one law for all.

After such a heinous crime the temptation is to fall into consensus with Senator Pauline Hanson. On reflection, her public utterances relating to the Islamic community are both odious and unacceptable in modern Australia; however, the murder of my friend by an Islamic Jihadist has caused a seismic shift in my perspective and entrenched compassion.

While there should be no ill-will for the Muslim community and the moderate followers of Islam, the time has come to close our borders; to temporarily halt all Islamic immigration into Australia. The deep societal problems are not dissipating; they are ever deteriorating, exacerbated by the ever-widening chasm separating our basic philosophies and simple social mores, which, given the opportunity, the fundamentalist Islamist would extinguish.

We need to solve the existing problems before adding more fuel to a raging fire.

Roland can be heard each Monday morning on 3BA at 10.30am.

Contact: [email protected].