On the one hand, Stephen Harper cancelled the long-form census.
On the other, you have a freezer full of decapitated human heads — trophies displayed by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin for amusement, and to scare anyone else who might dare cross his majesty.
Of course, you can argue that Canada’s former prime minister repeatedly prorogued Parliament, and called the niqab “anti-woman” in his bid to have face-coverings banned at Canadian citizenship ceremonies.
But then, Uganda’s president from 1971 to 1979 had 300,000 of his own citizens slaughtered, broadcasting mass executions on live television and torturing others via gruesome medical experiments, to ensure they suffered as long as possible.
And on the comparison goes: Harper making choices that were unpopular with a majority of Canadians, and Amin making deranged decisions that ensured his place in the annals of blood-thirsty, despot sociopaths.
Over this ludicrous, half-baked comparison, a respected Muslim voice in Canada has veered dangerously close to irrelevance — because anyone who would seriously compare Stephen Harper with Idi Amin clearly can’t be trusted for an objective opinion.
Somehow, Imam Syed Soharwardy apparently believes just that.
“Stephen Harper’s legacy as Prime Minister of Canada. He ruled Canada as Idi Amin ruled Uganda,” reads the outrageous social media post, repeated Tuesday on both Facebook and Twitter.
Either Soharwardy fails to grasp historical facts and basic logic, or the head of Islamic Supreme Council of Canada is willing to sink to any depth for cheap publicity, insulting the victims and survivors of Uganda’s darkest hour just to get a spurious point across.
Either way, the apologies and explanations better start soon, and they had better be good, if Soharwardy doesn’t want to end up as the PETA of Canadian religious leaders, known mainly for hyperbole and hysterics.
For a man whose previous work has included speaking out against Muslim radicalization and honour killings, going so far as to condemn ISIS in a fatwa signed by Muslim leaders across Canada, this is a major misstep.
Canada needs strong Muslim voices, to show both the religion and secular society in its best light — and most of the time, Soharwardy offers just that.
But to suddenly invoke a madman like Amin, just to make a point against a prime minister he doesn’t like?
Soharwardy better find a way to say sorry, and soon.
He couldn’t be reached Wednesday, even as the Internet seethed with outrage over the Amin/Harper suggestion, one typical response reading “You should retract that statement or forever stand shamed in Canadian society.”
And really, Soharwardy should be ashamed.
Harper, like him or loathe him, was the product of a democratic system, and a choice made in a free election — which is why he was so easy to get rid of, once Canadians decided they didn’t like Harper or his Conservative party anymore.
The soil of Uganda is littered with the remains of people who dreamed about the kind of freedom Canadians enjoyed under Harper — freedom Soharwardy mocked with a metaphor that insults those anonymous graves.
“Disgraceful,” is how Tarek Fatah describes Soharwardy’s social-media link between Harper and Amin.
Fatah, a secular Muslim scholar and political activist from Toronto, says Soharwardy has a personal loathing for the former prime minister that’s tainting his judgment.
“Imam Soharwardy seems to have developed a personal hateful grudge towards Stephen Harper and it seems it’s a result of the previous government spurning his overtures and lobbying efforts to position himself as some sort of a ‘moderate’ Muslim leader,” wrote Fatah, in an e-mail interview.
He says Soharwardy obviously doesn’t understand the history of Uganda.
“What Soharwardy forgets is that Idi Amin was a Muslim bigot, a racist and a borderline psychopath.”
STEPHEN HARPER VS. IDI AMIN
Their Top Five Controversies
HARPER
1. Scrapped long-form census, depriving Canada of demographic information.
2. Abandoned Kyoto Accord, the world’s plan for climate change.
3. Mike Duffy. Senate expense scandal dogged Harper’s final term.
4. Syrian refugees. Harper slammed for not helping enough.
5. Muzzled scientists. Harper accused of silencing critics.
AMIN
1. Killed an estimated 300,000 civilians.
2. Ate some of them. Amin called human flesh “salty.”
3. Ran human torture factories.
4. Ethnic cleansed, based on race and religion.
5. Admired Hitler.
Living in Anglo-America 