"The raids in Flushing [conducted by NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) on apartments in Flushing and Whitestone on September 14 as part of an investigation against a Colorado man linked to Al Qaeda] caused suspicion among the voters who exercised their vote against me on polling day," Imtiaz Syed told Urdu Times during an exclusive interview.
He said there were 200,000 registered Muslim Democratic voters in New York. Had they come out of their homes on September 15, they would have influenced the elections for all the City Council seats, and for the mayor. However, he said that despite the erosion to his voter base by media partiality and the Flushing raids, he received 20,000 votes.
Imtiaz Syed pointed out that his opponents launched their campaigns over a year and a half ago, while his started up just four months before the primaries. However, he opined, he ran a very effective campaign and reached out to every community. He said he won the endorsement of several dozen Chinese, Sikh, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, African-American and Arab community organizations. Chinese newspapers gave him prominent coverage during his campaign, he said, while Chinese television channels interviewed him numerous times; however, being ignored by mainstream media, along with the terrorist-related raids a day before the primaries, proved unfavorable for him.
According to Syed, he received 7 percent of the Chinese vote, 3 percent of the white, 3 percent of the Black and less than 1 percent of the Muslim vote.
"Our (Pakistani) community does not espouse collective thinking but is more centered on the individual," he said, adding that he received more Jewish votes than those from the Muslim community. He added that the Pakistani-American community shows little understanding of the American political system; rather it has made its adoptive home – the United States – the battleground of Pakistan-centric politics. He said no U.S. administration – current or future – could ignore Pakistani Americans if they were to unite on a single platform, setting aside all their differences. Syed regretted that Pakistanis are after their own individual petty gains and seem less interested in unity at the community level.
Syed claimed that at least 100,000 Muslims wanted to vote for him, but unfamiliarity both with mainstream politics and the electoral process kept them away from the polls. He said all public opinion polls, including one conducted by NBC, suggested that he was leading in the race.
Had he succeeded in the election and become public advocate, Syed stated, he would have opened doors for Muslims to become judges, the human rights commissioner, and even to win City Council seats.
With the shift in American politics since the election of President Barack Obama, communities across the country have come out of isolation and joined the mainstream, observed Syed. He admonished Pakistani Americans to come forward and join the political process by volunteering for political events, donating campaign funds and showing greater political activism.
