Like Aborigines in Australia, Indigenous Peoples in Ph continue to be marginalized

Melbourne, Australia—“We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting. We pay our respects to their elders, past and present, and the Aboriginal Elders of other communities who may be here today.”

Instead of a religious prayer, this invocation marks the start of meetings and classes here. But this tribute to what is considered the oldest race in the world today—the aborigines of Australia—is very recent and long overdue. When the British colonizers “discovered” Australia, many aboriginal groups were massacred, displaced from their ancestral territories, and captured into slavery. Worst, their children were systematically taken away from them, made servants of households, and would be known today as the “stolen generations.”

For centuries, the oppression of appropriately the “first Australians” or “first nations” continued. Australia’s 1901 Federal Constitution further marginalized them by excluding them from the law-making responsibility of parliament and from the regular census, which therefore rendered them as noncitizens.

But Australia has been on the mend. In a historical referendum in 1967, 90 percent of voters rejected these adverse constitutional provisions. And yet the fight has only begun, for although the aborigines are now recognized as citizens, they still have no real power and have been left to the mercy or benevolence of the various states.

Fast forward to 2017: Aboriginal leaders gathered at a nationwide conference and thereafter issued a statement demanding rightly that they be given more representation in the federal constitution. “In 1967, we were counted; in 2017, we seek to be heard,” was the battle cry.

And so, later this year, a referendum will take place once again to afford Australia’s indigenous population what is dubbed as “the voice to parliament.” Essentially, this voice is a constitutionally enshrined body of aboriginal representatives, who would be consulted by the parliament and the executive branch in matters pertaining to their welfare. As Church and civic groups here advocating for these constitutional amendments put it, Australia is at a crossroads today. The referendum will decide if the Australian people would correct centuries of injustice and embrace a future that is more humane, egalitarian, and democratic.

The choice seems to be clear, and yet in recent surveys the number of those in favor of “the voice to parliament” is declining. The opposition to the constitutional amendment is fierce, and the apathy among the general public is significant. But the passion of those supporting the aborigines remains. As one Australian Jesuit priest explains, the referendum is not a mere legal issue. What is at stake is the very soul of the country. Will it take this rare opportunity to finally make right its dark, racist past?

All these lead us to reflect on our own situation. While only 800,000 aborigines or a mere 4 percent of the whole population are left in Australia today, in the Philippines, the indigenous peoples number about 11 million. And many of them, like the aborigines of Australia, live poor and desperate lives. Despite existing laws, they are also displaced from their ancestral domain. Reportedly, from 2016 to 2020 or during the Duterte presidency, 126 indigenous leaders fell victim to extrajudicial killings. Even today, the Red-tagging of these minority groups continues. In the meantime, their plight has remained marginal in our national consciousness. No soul-searching happening yet, unlike in Australia today—except, it seems, at Christmas time when several Aeta groups descend on the streets of Manila to beg.

The predicament of the Igorots or “lumads” in the Philippines, and the aborigines in Australia, should concern us. As the civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” In a predominantly Christian society like ours, the words we ought to heed come from our Lord no less: “Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Fr. Nono Alfonso, SJ,

executive director,

Jesuit Communications, Inc.