Pinoy Kasi
Partition
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:16:00 09/03/2008
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s latest flip-flopping on Mindanao has been reckless, to say the least. First she raised the expectations of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) while upsetting the rest of Mindanao’s residents, then got tough on the MILF, and finally backed out of the Kuala Lumpur Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
1947
The President and her advisers should be looking back in history to look at what territorial partitions can do. There were two partitions in 1947, both instigated by Britain as it moved into a postcolonial era.
Just last week, the 61st anniversary of one of those partitions was marked. Aug. 15 is the National Day of both India and Pakistan, a time for celebration as well as a time for remembering the Partition, a fateful decision by the British colonial rulers to divide the Indian subcontinent into two countries.
The Partition was made for religious reasons: India for areas that were predominantly Hindu and Pakistan for those that had a Muslim majority. In terms of geography, the Partition (always spelled with a capital P) was almost clumsy, with West and East Pakistan separated from each other by a vast Indian territory between them.
Eventually, another partition was to occur, this time the product of a bloody civil war, when the predominantly Bengali East Pakistan seceded to establish Bangladesh.
Partition resulted in many families being separated, for example Muslims choosing to stay in India despite the risks of becoming a minority. Some of the dire predictions of persecution were to come true, with lives lost as fundamentalists on both the Hindu and Muslim sides looking for “infidels.” A rather morbid method—recounted in short stories and even in one movie (“Goodbye, Mr. Iyer”)—focused on a piece of skin. The Muslims practice circumcision while the Hindus do not, so when Hindu ultra-nationalists would go on a rampage, they would sometimes go on their “inspections” to identify Muslims for lynching.
Through the years, tensions between the two countries have been reduced, and there are many heartwarming stories of families reunited, of people crossing religious barriers and falling in love, even marrying. India still has a large Muslim population, in fact, the third largest in the world. But fundamentalists on both sides continue to agitate for stricter segregation.
The other event in 1947 was the UN Partition Plan for Palestine, enacted by a UN General Assembly resolution on Nov. 29, which tried to resolve Arab-Jewish tensions in the Middle East by creating the Jewish state of Israel out of land that was claimed by predominantly Muslim Palestinians.
The last 60 years have seen one war after another, between Israel and Palestine’s supporters (for example, Egypt). The wars were devastating, with a victorious Israel ending up with more Palestinian territory. Palestine itself has become one seething cauldron of discontent, with one “intifada” (uprising) after another and Palestinian suicide attacks.
Bangsamoro
Mindanao’s situation is very different from that of India and Pakistan, as well as Israel and Palestine, but there are some similarities in terms of claims and counter-claims to territories. Much of Muslim resentment is directed against settlers from outside Mindanao who came in several waves. On the other hand, many of the settlers in Mindanao have been there for several decades now, and see Mindanao as their home.
The term “Moro” is central to all the discussions. Originally used by the Spaniards to refer to the Muslims, it took on many derogatory meanings—of “unbelievers” (as opposed to Christians), of pirates. The fear of Moro raiders extended well into the Visayas and Southern Luzon, which was one reason why Catholic churches were so well fortified, the church tower used as well to look out for approaching Moro boats.
The Spaniards were never able to colonize Moro areas. The Americans made some inroads, but the Moros retained a fierce independence, never quite accepting the Americans or, later, the Philippine republic. “Moro” continued to be a pejorative term.
The massive entry of Christian settlers into Mindanao aggravated the tensions. In the 1960s and 1970s, Christian vigilante groups began to emerge, fanatically anti-Muslim. The Ilaga was one such group, and has re-emerged following the MOA-AD.
Government neglect of Muslim areas, the Jabidah Massacre of 1968 (in which young Muslims recruited into the Philippine Army were massacred in a training camp), catalyzed the emergence of secessionist movements.
Part of the resurgence of Muslim pride was a reclaiming of the term “Moro,” together with dreams of a Bangsamoro, now promised in the controversial MOA-AD between the Philippine government and the MILF. My impression was that this would be a Muslim Juridical Entity, but I’m hearing claims now that this is a Bangsamoro that includes Christians (often generically referred to as “Bisaya”) and the “lumad” (non-Muslim indigenous communities).
The Bangsamoro concept is more similar to that of a Palestinian, which actually includes Muslims in the majority and a Christian minority united by a common identity.
But here lies the problem: Do the Bisaya and the lumad have this Bangsamoro identity or even at least a Bangsamoro aspiration?
I feel, strongly, that the potentials are there. My paternal grandmother lived in Davao City, so I spent many summers and Christmas breaks there. I also worked in Mindanao in 1976 and 1977, with the Catholic Church’s social action programs in health, which entailed many trips around the island. It was Mindanao that got me to appreciate our multicultural heritage even more. I got used to long, bumpy bus trips, falling asleep and waking up to a different language at each stop. I’d wake up to Ilonggo, and an hour later, to Cebuano, and once, in Kabacan, North Cotabato, to Ilocano, reflecting how people of one ethnolinguistic group often settled together in one area, building a new town.
I remember, too, the constant talk of fighting between Muslims and Christians, yet what I saw were simple farmers of different faiths living together. When hostilities broke out, it wasn’t so much around religion than access to land, and to resources. All this was ironic because Mindanao is so rich in resources, touted as a land of promise for the lumad, the Muslims and the Christians.
The Bangsamoro Juridical Entity was another promise, all too deceptive. That it came from a President who herself grew up in Mindanao, not too far from Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte, currently an area that has erupted in violence, makes this whole fiasco all the more lamentable.
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