Expatica news

Dutch Cabinet under firein Parliament over murder

11 November 2004

AMSTERDAM — Independent conservative MP Geert Wilders has lashed out against the government and claimed it has failed to answer important questions about the murder of Theo van Gogh.

Wilders said he was shocked and angered by the murder on 2 November in Amsterdam. The government response to questions about it was “below par”, he said.

He said suspects who are currently under observation should be arrested tomorrow and expelled from the country the following day.

“When the current legal situation does not allow this, the cabinet should introduce an emergency law that does,” he said.

The Liberal VVD party — which is in the government coalition with the Christian Democrat CDA and Democrat D66 — accused the cabinet of being naïve about Muslim extremism.

VVD leader Jozias van Aartsen said government ministers ignored the party’s calls for tougher legal measures to combat extremism.

“Dialogue is important, but not the number one measure. You don’t reach out to extremists with a government information campaign,” he said.

To drive home his point, Van Aartsen said: “This murder is not due to failed integration. The murderer is not a poor, lonely immigrant. Mohammed B.’s profile is different. The killing was a product of international Jihad. It is political violence”.

Earlier, MPs had indicated that the fate of Interior Minister Johan Remkes depended on the contents of the government’s letter to parliament being sufficiently convincing.

Remkes — who is in charge of the police and the security service AIVD — has been accused of not dealing effectively with the threat from Islamic extremists.”

As he is a member of the VVD, his survival at least in part depends on the continuing support of his party colleagues in parliament.

The debate was continuing on Thursday evening.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news