The Philippine government should be wary in what’s happening in Iraq and the Palestinians. With the death of Saddam Hussein, a civil war could be inevitable. It was the likes of a dictator like Saddam who could unite the warring factions of the Sunnis, Shiites and the Kurds. It was also the late Yassir Arafat who at least resolved the infighting between the Fatah and Hamas among the Palestinians.
In Mindanao, the Ramos administration successfully made peace with the MNLF but the MILF-GRP negotiation is far from achieving peace despite the intervention of the Malaysian and the U.S. government. The MILF asking for the control of its so called “ancestral domain” is like asking for the moon.
Everyone from Mindanao knows that there are more Christians there than Muslims but they have co-existed for a long time due to their leaders’ spirit of understanding and magnanimity.
Conflict arose when the Jabidah massacre and the Sabah takeover were exposed. It emboldened the Marcos enemies to make a deal with the Malaysian government. The rest is history.
Methinks that we don’t need foreign observers there to meddle in our own internal affairs. Our political leaders both Christian and Muslims can handle the problem with the support of our thinkers in the AFP. If Malaysia and the U.S. are sincere in helping, promises of aid and support should pass our government agencies. We should not give the MILF a status of belligerency. If we’re not careful balkanization of Mindanao is in the offing due to betrayed commitments.
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