It has been brought to our attention that the Conservative Councillor, Cllr Dr Teck Khong, has an interesting network of friends on social media. Of particular interest has been the fact that he is a serving councillor on Oadby and Wigston Borough Council in Leicestershire. He also lists his profession as a General Practitioner in his register of interests and also is a Board member on the Governing Body of Leicester City’s Clinical Commissioning Group. He also lists an interest in a company called Healthwebwide Limited, which is also listed in his register of interests.

So far so good. Yet, a look at the social media activity of Cllr Khong leaves much to be desired in the comments that he seems to ‘like’. For example, he seems to ‘like’ the following statement made by a Twitter user on the 14th of November 2015,

“Liberty, Equality and Fraternity……perhaps alien values to Muslims and Muslim countries. In that I agree.“

He also ‘liked’ a further post from a Twitter follower (@SandLizard1968), who stated,

“hahahaha yeah. The Muslims on the average as a whole,” and the comment followed on from his statement of “malevolent aliens.”

He posted another ‘like’ from the anti-Muslim Twitter account of @MikkiL on the 2nd of January 2016 where he ‘liked’ the following statement,

“They r Halal certified Muslims don’t object as collecting halal tax from us kaffirs should be labelled.”

The ‘likes’ further continued as he hit the button for the following statement on the 27th of March 2016,

“Naturally Muslims can be humane in spite of their religion, much as not all Nazis were guilty of murder.“

And the list goes on. On the same day he ‘liked’ the following comment which referenced Islam,

“And evil religion if ever there’s one“.

On the 10th of December 2015, he also ‘liked’ an overtly anti-Muslim statement using terminology that is straight out of the lexicon of anti-Muslim bigoted terms. This is what he placed his red heart shaped ‘like’ next to,

“Muzzies don’t need any help with radicalising.“

Problematic

What is particularly problematic about this case is the fact that Cllr Khong does not fit the profile of people who are susceptible to comments which are anti-Muslim in nature. Then again, as we have said before, anti-Muslim bigotry is not the domain of one race, social status or faith, but what is troubling is the fact that a serving councillor and a man in a position of such responsibility chooses to overtly ‘like’ anti-Muslim comments of his own volition. Not only is he a General Practitioner who may well be serving diverse communities, he is also a Board Member on the Governing Body of the Clinical Commissioning Group in Leicester City Council and these are senior positions where decisions are made which can affect communities.

We will be writing to Conservative Central Office and to Clinical Commissioning Group in Leicester with this information and material and also to Oadby and Wigston Borough Council. We hope that this matter will be looked into by the relevant bodies. In the meantime, our advice to Cllr Khong would be,

“Give the ‘like’ button a rest, it may just ensure that you don’t make matters worse.”

The post Meet Cllr Dr Teck Khong, Conservative Councillor and General Practitioner appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Morpeth Town Councillor, David Clark, has refused to resign after making a number of Facebook comments that were reported into us by members of the public. Speaking to the Morpeth Herald yesterday, he stated:

“I abhor extremism of any kind and I was referring to extremists and not Islam as a whole.”

Cllr David Clark went onto state that:

“This is my personal opinion and therefore it does not represent the views of any council I am a member of. I will not dignify the questioners with any further response.”

The problem with these responses is that an elected member is liable to be scrutinised for public and private comments they make particularly when those comments relate to issues that may be sensitive to local residents. In this instance, abusing the faith of some local residents, we believe, falls into this category.

The question has to be asked as to whether someone with views about Islam which Cllr Clark holds can honestly and objectively represent, advocate and act on behalf of local residents who happens to be Muslim and followers of Islam? This is the crux of the issue.

Furthermore, when you look at the Facebook statements made by Cllr Clark, they are directly against Islam and, it can be said, against the followers of Islam – Muslims. The statement below illustrates his statement:

“Paul, Islam isn’t a race, it is a cult religion. I still maintain it is the biggest single threat to world peace…..they (one can only assume the followers of Islam – Muslims), are an absolute bunch of nut pots…..just my personal opinion.“

A further comment by Cllr Clark highlights ISIS but then goes onto state that “Islam is the biggest threat to world peace.“

Judging by these documented comments, the response from Cllr Clark simply does not wash. His statements are clear and he could have contextualised them which he did not do.

The question still stands for Cllr Clark. Can he truly represent people who happen to be Muslim in his ward given his views about their faith and could it be said – about them? If his answer is yes, the next question would be, will a local resident who happens to be Muslim feel comfortable being represented by a local councillor with these views?

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