1. Today, October 15 2012, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) and the Philipine governent signed a historic framework agreement for
the creation of the Bangsamoro in South Philipine of Mindanao.
2. The obvoius question to most Malaysian is - what is the
big deal? Why our Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was honoured and considered a
guest of honour at the historic event? Similarly, back in the late 80s and 90s, the Opposition
parties also asked a similar question - why waste money and time to help a
foreign people? To answer this, we have to go back
to history.
3. Bangsamoro refers to the Muslim population in Southern
Philipines. The word Bangsa is a Malay word refering to nation. Moro is a term
given by Spanish rulers back when Philipines was under the colonization of
Spain. During the 15th-16th century, Span was the world power and
when they colonized Philipines, they noticed a group of people
practicising a worship similar to that of the Moors in Andalusia (Southern Spain).
4. The first reason why we should celebrate the creation of
Bangsamoro is because the Moros are our brothers/sisters - they are from the
Malay stock and Muslim. When the Spanish came to colonize Philipines, the many
Sultans from Southern Philipines rose up and fought the Spanish conquistadors.
They fought bravely and only succumb to the mighty arsenal of the United
States, 400 years later.
5. The second reason relates to the strategy in tackling the
immigration problem in Sabah. The Moros and Sabahans are brothers, whether we
want to admit it or not. Before the western powers (Portugues, Dutch,
Spaniards, English, Americans) came and colonize the South East Asian region,
people were free to travel and settle anywhere in this region. For example, the
Sulu Sultanate and Brunei Sultanate are related. Furthermore, the Moros are
seafarers people since ancient time and historical proof shows that they lived
in Sabah (during the rule of Sulu Sultanate) before. If we kick them out en
masse, either they will be killed in war with the Philipines or their
children died in hunger.
By having a state of their own, they will be inspired to go
back to their ancestral land and improve their own nation. This has always been
our nation policy in tackling and solving the immigration problem in Sabah
since the time of Tun Dr Mahathir. Being the far-sighted leader that he is, Tun
understood what was the root cause of the immigration problem in Sabah -
the lack of aspiration and independence of the Moros land.
6. The third reason is the prevention of Angle-Saxon
intervention. For many years , United States
together with their Anglo-Saxon cousins, United Kingdom and Australia have try
to meddle in the South East Asian (SEA) region. For example, last year,
President Obama declared the US will build a new base in Australia. Their aim
is to involve in SEA by using the context of fighting terrorism. In the
Mindanao region, an extreme militant group known as Abu Sayyaf was created out
of frustration after many previous peace engagement with the Philipine
Government failed. For many Malaysian, we first heard about Abu Sayyaf when
they took over a resort in Sipadan Island in Sabah in 2000.
There is no doubt that Abu Sayyaf is a militant group that
is desperate. Desperate people do desperate things. Not all Moros support them
- majority do not. However, they agree with the cause - to setup an independent
state. By having their own state, Uncle Sam and its Anglo-Saxons cousins have
no casus beli to interfere in this region.
7. Another related reason is the safety of Malaysian
water/sea and its impact to job creation. You may wondered, how does the
creation of Bangsamoro create more jobs or increase the safety in Malaysia?
The coast of Sabah is known worldwide for its beauty. One of
the strategy setup by the Government is to improve the tourism aspect in Sabah.
The Sipadan kidnapping did affect the tourism industry in Sabah. There is many
other area in the Sabahan coast which have potential to be further developed
into an excellent tourist attraction. In a simple word, this will create jobs
for locals! However, as we saw from the Sipadan kidnapping in 2000, if we have
terrorist coming over and capturing any Mat Saleh, who would want to come?
There are also evidences suggesting that many of the crimes
perpetrated by the illegal immigrants in Sabah is part of a mafia-like
syndicate. When a robbery occurs, half of the money is given to terrorist or
pirates (for protection). The pirates/terrorist then uses the money to buy
weapons from the black market. By having a state where they can get a proper
employment, there is less chance they will commit a crime in Sabah and
indirectly this will weaken the pirates/terrorist in Sabah seacoast.
8. The fifth reason is its impact on the unresolved situation
for our Muslim cousins in Pattani. The problem in South Thailand is similar to the
problem in South Philipines. Similar to the Moros, the Pattanis would like to
have their own state governed by their own elected official. Similar to the
Moros, they are also Muslim. Malaysia may not be able to directly influence the
Palestinian struggle but we can help our Muslim cousins nearby – Pattanis
(Thailand), Moros (Philipines) and Rohingyas (Myanmar).
Just like the war between Moros and the Philipinos, the
Pattanis and Thais are tired of waging war between each other. We have tried to
help and broker a peace deal between both sides for many years now. Hopefully,
with the news of the creation of Bangsamoro, it will give boost to all sides in
reaching a permanent peace.
9. I hope Malaysian will now understand the impact of the
creation of Bangsamoro to our country. The five reasons given are just a short list
of the many other benefits.There are others like how this will affect Philipines claim on Sabah which have been a thorny issue between us and the Philipines.
Here, I would like to highlight the achievement of our
Government and our excellent foreign policy (FP). Starting from the time of Tun
Abdul Razak, we move ourselves away from being a pro-US country to a neutral
country. Our famous motto of ‘prosper thy neighbour’ has been the hallmark of
our FP for many decades.
We believe in respecting our neighbours. We do not believe
in meddling in our neighbour affairs unlike Singapore (Bersih etc). When we
have disagreement with our neighbour, we will use all political channels
available and try to have a win-win situation.
During the previous administration of Paklah, advised by a bunch
of corrupt, incompetent and arrogant advisors, we almost forgot who we were. We were advised
to follow the Sheriff of SEA (i.e Australia) in regards to many international affairs
(e.g. Myanmar). We lost many friends who used to think highly of us but thank
God that now we are starting to regain back their respect. The fact that our Prime
Minister Najib Tun Razak was honoured at the Bangsamoro signing ceremony is a
sign of this respect.
10. It is cool to say the Government sucks. Yes, the
Government is not free from faults. However when they do something good, we
should give credit where credit is due. The creation of a Muslim state for the Moros
people will not have happened if the BN Government were run by idiots. This is the differrence between how the Opposition parties
and Barisan Nasional operates. The BN despite all their warts and faults, do
come out with good and long term strategy that have proven repeatedly to work.
a) DAP never cared
about the struggle of the Moros or Pattanis. Their solution to the immigration
problem in Sabah was inhumane and stupid – just shoot or kick them out.
b) PAS who always like to show how Islamic they are did not
do anything constructive to help their Muslim brothers in Mindanao. Their
solution was for Malaysia to send armed forces to help the Moros. Their thinking
capability is very much limited and emotional. Do they not understand that war
should only be the last option? War only leads to destruction for both
attackers and defenders. Just asked the Moros, Pattanis, Palestinians and
Kashmiris.
c) For Anwar Ibrahim (PKR), he had an excellent opportunity to
play a role to help the Moros (when he was the DPM). Sadly, he misused/abused
the Moros situation and tried to populate Sabah with the Moros. I was there and
I saw his strategy. He did not believe in the creation of Bangsamoro. He wanted all
the Muslim from South Mindanao to come to Sabah so that the number of Muslim in
Sabah will overtake the Christians. Mind you, he did not do this for Islam but for his own selfish gain. His strategy was an increase in Muslim power in
Sabah means more allies UMNO Sabah. He will then use this Sabah delegations as his own personal base to launch attacks on Tun Ghaffar (success) and Tun Dr M (Failed). That is the animal known as Anwar Ibrahim. If
people still want to believe this liar, then go ahead.
11. The success of the Bangsamoro framework today is due to
our brilliant officials in the current government and in the past that have
work tirelessly and with patient. I feel it is wrong for me to single out any names. Many have risk even their life, some even went into the jungle of Mindanao
leaving their wife and children at home for weeks and months. To all these people, I would like to
wish them thank you and may Allah SWT provide you with Jannah for what
you have provide to the Moros in Mindanao.
