_________________________________________________
A HOLY
WEEK TRILOGY OF TRUE STORIES ON HEALING
From the healing ministry archives of meditation materials
Anecdote 25 – Two
short healing stories
Spiritual illness can be worse than physical. Depression can be
worse than cancer. Spiritual emptiness can make one cold and numb. For terminal sicknesses,
request for prayers from the Mother Ignacia Prayer Warriors, with global
members, at sr.raquel.rvm@gmail.com
Anecdote 19 –
Instant healings
Sometimes it takes a year for the Lord to answer a plea for
healing. But sometime, He does it instantly. His ways are not our ways.
Anecdote 03 – God
healed my father
A touching testimonial on the power of prayer.
Browse through
the mini-library of anecdotes
Anecdotes are in Archive 09
of the main library. Some archive link lists are not yet updated.
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A GEOPOLITICAL SOLUTION TO SABAH
By Bernie Lopez
The root of the problem on the Sabah
issue is the lack of political will in high places, the lack of courage to
pursue, the fear of making a mistake which helped make more and bigger
mistakes. Noynoy has been using a type of diplomacy which is not working –
authoritarian yet fearful and panicky, covert rather than overt using secret
couriers, exuding a peace stance which would ironically bring war. Right now,
Noynoy is getting an avalanche of flak worldwide.
Noynoy also displays a lack of in-depth
knowledge, hinting that he needs historians and anthropologists over and above
his political appointees in the Cabinet who sways him so easily into new
blunders. As one columnist puts it, it
is ignorance and arrogance all at once. But all is not hopeless. Noynoy can
change things if he wants to, if he goes beyond his Cabinet, if decides to be
fearless and wise all at once, if he adopts some aggressiveness, if he begins
to get an in-depth insight into this huge complex geopolitical issue.
A
Bit of History
Here are some basics on Sabah history to
begin with. A Bornean Sultan was at war with a neighboring sultanate. At that
time, there were many rival Muslim principalities from Sulu to Borneo to
Melanesia. The rivalry revolved around economics, that is, trade and territory.
When he was about to lose that war, the Bornean Sultan sent an urgent message
for help to the Tausug Sultan of Jolo. In the ensuing rescue, the Bornean
Sultan prevailed, and rewarded the Tausug Sultanate with territory, namely,
Sabah.
When the British gave independence to
Malaysia, it ceded Sabah, which it did not own or colonize, to the Malaysians.
To settle matters and avoid conflict, Malaysia offered to rent Sabah for a song.
The Tausug Sultanate agreed. The contract exists today. Malaysia has been
paying the inheritors of the Tausug Sultanate. This is prima facie evidence that Malaysia in fact DOES NOT OWN Sabah, and
is a tenant to the landlord Tausug Sultan.
The Tausug royalty requested President
Diosdado Macapagal to help retrieve Sabah from the Malaysians. Like Noynoy,
Macapagal had no political will. He was not strong, aggressive, or creative
enough to deduce a strategy. The implication of the Tausug request is that Sabah
was now elevated from a concern of a Sultanate to that of the Philippine
government, of which the Tausugs were a part.
Marcos had the political will, one of
the few Presidents we had who had balls, but his plan was not brainy enough. He
organized a secret army of Tausug warriors to invade Sabah, which ended up as
the infamous Jabidah massacre. All was lost for now on the effort to retrieve
Sabah. Marcos was a lawyer and knew from evidence the case of Sabah would win
in the international courts. But he had an insight into geopolitics and world
history. He knew the Malaysian will not go to court or to the bargaining table.
Like the Japanese and Germans in World War II, he knew war was the only option.
He was right because Sabah is rich in oil and gas, and the tenant will not just
give it up in a lousy court case. We are back to the trade and territory issue
of the Muslim principalities of old. Malaysia in truth is asking to be invaded.
When Noynoy failed to support the side
of Kiram and the Tausugs, he virtually degraded the concern of Sabah as a
government matter achieved by Macapagal back to the concern of the Tausugs. He
also showed his tail behind his legs to the Malaysians, who were emboldened to
employ overkill. He not only incurred the ire of the entire Bangsa Moro for
abandoning the Muslim Filipinos, he showed his weakness to the Malaysians, who
took the initiative. That is one big geopolitical blunder which the entire
world is watching right now.
Towards
a Geopolitical Strategy
The international community plays a
crucial role in solving the Sabah impasse, even if we forget the courts, to
which Malaysia (and China in the Spratleys) will never take as an option.
Diplomatic pressure is the key. For example, can we possibly ask the
Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to intervene? It is a conflict of
Muslims versus Muslims. Can we (or not so much we but the Tausugs) not get the
sympathy of specific Muslim countries? After all, we are the underdog. We are
the one’s being bullied, a small band of Tausugs facing tanks and jets.
Can we not strike a deal with an oil
Islamic country or even the big Western powers (this is dangerous, but we are
desperate) to help us retrieve Sabah in return for an exclusive partnership to
the oil and gas? We do not have to go to war to retrieve Sabah.
There are many other geopolitical
possibilities. It is just that Noynoy and all the President’s men are not
thinking enough. Their diplomacy is panicky, knee-jerk, clandestine, and based
on lack of information on Sabah and insight into the essence of aggressive
diplomacy.
Even China may start to soften up in the
Spratleys if they know they have a window on the rich Sabah oil and gas, which
is easier and quicker to extract at this point. We may even hit two birds with
one stone with China. The energy crisis is actually our ally, a geopolitical
tool that will bring bounty. There are many more options we can brainstorm on.
But when I say ‘our’, I mean in behalf
of the Tausugs, the real and essential owners based on history. They must have
a major role in 1) any new autonomous local government in Sabah, 2) a major
share in the oil and gas bounty. If we set the Tausugs to the side and they see
Sabah progress rapidly without them, there will be a new war of Christians and
Muslims never before seen, where they will try to separate into an independent
state. That war may polarize and escalate to include other regional powers.
Right now, the Tausugs have the
advantage of 1) sympathy from other Muslim nations for being bullied by a
tenant, 2) being in a position to launch a protracted guerrilla war in the
remote rainforests of Sabah that can last for decades. Having an
anthropological and historical knowledge of the Tausug as warrior (this is not
romanticizing), this is very possible. The poverty of Muslims in Mindanao will
strengthen that guerrilla war. Then, all they need would be more arms from
outside supporters. We can nip that protracted war in the bud if we just
somehow make our next chess move brilliant. eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
[Note: for newspapers here and abroad,
Filipino or non-Filipino, you all have permission to reprint this article
without asking. Just inform the author by email, and place his byline and email
address to receive feedback.]
I create light and darkness
refuge and suffering
I the Lord
do all these things
I send My justice
like soft rain from the sky
to quench the parched earth
and bring salvation to all
isaiah 45:5-8
amdg
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