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Agencies - April 10,
2005
American Muslim wins
Illinois township race
New York - Moin Moon Khan, an American
Muslim computer specialist who once set up a Bihar Cultural
Association, has won the April 5, 2005 race for trustee of York
Township in Illinois.
Khan, who hails from Muzaffarpur in
Bihar, acknowledged that many people had helped him win the race. He
was the first non-Caucasian to be nominated by the Republican Party
in DuPage County and the first American Muslim to win on that
party's ticket in the county.
"My passion is politics and interacting
with people," Khan told IANS. "My election will provide political
voice to one-fourth of the residents of York Township, who speak
about two dozen languages and practice a dozen religions, yet they
are not represented," Khan had said earlier.
DuPage, within
which York Township falls, is a predominantly Republican county and
historically the four trustees have been Republicans. Trustees are
responsible for the township's expenditures, for levying property
taxes, and running seniors programs, among other responsibilities.
"We are the new face of the 21st century
and we can make it known by working together and making new
pragmatic alliances."
Khan, president of the American
Muslims for Peaceful Co-existence, is recognized in the Muslim
American and Asian American communities for his moderate and
patriotic views.
According to Paul Hinds, York Township
Republican Party chair, the Asian community is increasing in DuPage
County. While the Republican Party did have village-level Asian
candidates, (Khan) was the first in DuPage at township level, Hinds
said.
Hinds, who nominated Khan, said he was the kind of
candidate the Republican Party wanted. "We need candidates for these
offices every four years. Moon's always been active and he was on
the shortlist. He has all the qualifications."
In February, some 600 Republicans
attended the party caucus and made Khan's nomination official.
DuPage has close to a million people, and York Township, one of nine
townships in the county, has about 200,000.
Khan, who came
to the US in 1986 with plans to become a journalist, switched to
computers after getting a journalism degree from the University of
Georgia, because being a scribe "was not financially lucrative".
But politics was in his veins, he said,
and when he moved to Illinois, he founded the Bihar Cultural
Association and served on the boards of more than a dozen civic
organizations in the past 15 years.
These include the
Illinois Ethnic Coalition, United Way, American Cancer Society,
Council of Islamic Organiaations, Asian American Institute and the
Federation of Indian Associations.
Khan lives in Lombard, a
western suburb of Illinois, with his wife Shanu and son
Shaan.
Community
Builders Chicago congratulates
Meanwhile, the Community
Builders Chicago (CBC) congratulated three of its members on their
recent successes at the April 5, 2005 polls.
Mir Shamsuddin,
a board member of CBC, easily won his seat to the Skokie Board of
Education, School District 73, for a 4-year term. He was the second
highest vote getter in a race with 7 candidates.
Moin Moon
Khan, founder President of DuPage Minority Caucus won a closely
fought election to become the first minority candidate to win as
Trustee in suburban York Township. There were 8 candidates with 4
positions to fill.
Safa Zarzour, president of Cair Chicago's
Board of Directors, won a seat as commissioner of Bridgeview
Park district for the next 4
years.
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