By Luke Hunt
And in security circles the east coast of Sabah–a short boat ride from the Southern Philippines–is also known as a transit route for smugglers, bandits and terrorists moving between Mindanao and Indonesia.
Here, authorities have intensified security along the maritime border because of the continued strife in the Southern Philippines that erupted after the November massacre and mid-January warnings from the United States and Australia against travel to remote islands where the ASG has kidnapped and killed foreigners in the past.
On January 27, Malaysian authorities announced they had arrested ten people with links to international terrorists. Sources in Malaysia reportedly linked the ten to al-Qaida and the Nigerian student who attempted to blow-up a US-bound flight on Christmas Day, while in the Philippines there were suggestions of links to JI and the ongoing mess in Mindanao.
The Rajah Solaiman Movement is the fanatical fringe of Balik Islam, a movement of Christian converts (who prefer to be known as ‘reverts’) to Wahabi Islam. They specialize in urban sabotage and are allegedly funded with Saudi money through charitable fronts in Mindanao.
‘It’s arguable that Abu Sayyaf and other groups such as Rajah Solaiman produce large numbers of victims through bombing campaigns. But this is just one part of a much larger picture in which violence is effectively condoned,’ Loveard says. ‘In reality the national security picture in the Philippines is an extremely complex picture of violent groups and an almost complete lack of real control on the part of the government.’
Manning-up
What Manila will do next is a subject that has gripped the nation with all the trappings of the tawdry B-grade movies that made Estrada, the former actor turned president, rather famous.
Commentators and analysts are united in calling for a speedy trial, a ban on civilian militias and private funding of the police and military, while the ICG says the international community should step in and assist in forensic analysis of the massacre site, witness protection and in freezing any international assets held by the Ampatuan clan abroad.
It also urged the MILF and the government to pursue suspects of the Ampatuan private army, which would add some momentum to any peace talks, and called on the international media and civil society ‘to keep the case front and centre in the public eye to demand prosecution,’ even as the country moves into the election.
International assistance has been forthcoming, and given the media’s record on dealing with its own, the Maguindanao Massacre will continue to command public attention for a long time to come and the Ampatuan clan will be rewarded with a fitting place in history.
But whether Arroyo and the authorities in Manila have the nerve to prosecute, end the patronage game and deal with the militias is a question that is providing a dramatic backdrop for the upcoming poll.
Unfortunately, Philippine history hardly encourages faith in the government to handle such matters.
‘The external impact of the massacre has been to draw attention to the country’s complex skein of multi-layered clan and tribal based groups that provide political support to the centre in exchange for a high degree of local autonomy,’ Greenwood says.
‘Clearly the deal broke down on November 23 from Manila’s perspective, but the nature of Philippine society and political culture rooted in the ruling ‘latifundias’ reliance on informal extra-legal support from regional warlords to impose an approximation of order through a local version of Danegeld means that little action will–or can–be taken to dismantle the system.’
In other words, as long-time observer and author of Marcos and Beyond Karl Wilson put it: ‘That’s just the way it is here.’
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wowie
If only the Philippine government would invest more effort in addressing the problems in Mindanao, the country would be a lot more stable and peaceful. The problem is, the government doesn’t give much important to this part of the country because a lot of the wealthy and influencial people are not living in this part of the country! Much of our national budget is spent on the Metro Manila area and only a few trikles on the rest of the country. I think its high time that the country should shift to a federal form so that the people of Mindanao will have their own policy makers and run their own affairs according to whats best for them. People in Manila couldn’t fix the problem in Mindanao because they have little knowledge in the culture and lifestyle of people in Mindanao! They only read about these things in books that, for my part, are rarely accurate! The former senator, Raul Roco, have exposed anomalies in the Department of Education in the procurement of textbooks and an expat here in Cebu has exposed that the textbook used by the students here have a lot of errors in its content but still the department of education didn’t do anything about it! You see, historically, our past have been padded by our own historical writers, its a hypocritical writing of our history! it’s a history of hypocritical accounts. If we can correct our past, maybe, we can solve our problems by being aware of the mistakes in the past. It won’t “just the it is here”.
Bill.
I live in the Philippines now and have been here for 2 years. There are distinct ties between the Manila elites and the problems in Mindanao. It is common knowledge, but, in a country where most people are just trying to survive, something happening elsewhere is not of importance unless it directly affects them.
This country is run be a few billionaire families that were in power when we gave the Filipinos their “freedom” over 50 years ago. The US has helped these wealthy families to maintain control in the years since. The US is to blame for many of the problems occurring here by the lack of concern for our one-time colony. But, as there is nothing here that our US elites want, the Philippines are ignored. Too bad. They are a really great people who just want a chance.