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Issue No. 41                         November 25 - December 1,  2001              Quezon City, Philippines







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A Warrior Comes in From the Cold

BY Tim Healy and Antonio Lopez
Asiaweek 

December 27, 1996  

 

The old photos show an angry revolutionary quite unlike the man pictured today. A patterned head scarf flows from Nur Misuari's head to his shoulders. He sports the trademark goatee. In the background there is a hint of Mindanao jungle. And the eyes -- always intense, piercing, alert for betrayal. A decade ago, Misuari had reason to be suspicious. After all, the chief of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) had experienced more than his share of broken promises and bloody deception.

This makes his transformation all the more remarkable. Rebel Misuari is now Governor Misuari, co-architect of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Certainly his look has changed: instead of the scarf there is a patterned necktie. The beard, now flecked with gray, frames not pursed lips but the tentative smile of a man still learning about optimism. But, as before, the eyes betray Misuari. They are alive and, for a change, full of hope.

With good reason: in 1996 Misuari helped end one of the longest-running insurgencies in Southeast Asia, a triumph that brought the Philippines closer to its Muslim neighbors and heralded the prospect of prosperity for Mindanao.

Peace was long overdue. The Muslim separatist struggle took 100,000 lives -- half on the rebel side, 30% government troops and 20% civilians -- and drained government coffers by $3 billion and an average 40% of the annual military budget. More difficult to estimate is the cost to Mindanao in lost opportunity and continuing poverty. On the Sulu archipelago just south of Mindanao, long a rebel stronghold and one of the four provinces of the new region, per capita income is $159. On nearby Tawi Tawi, people can expect to live only an average 53 years; nearly half of them cannot read.

Misuari signed a peace accord Sept. 2 with one-time battlefield opponent Fidel Ramos, now president of the Philippines and a key mover behind the peace process. The treaty gives Mindanao's Muslims less than the full independence they wanted but substantial autonomy nonetheless. And it provides Misuari, who was elected governor Sept. 9, the promise of critical government funds to grow the economy. The law created a Special Zone of Peace and Development on Mindanao that encompasses 14 provinces and eight cities. Misuari has less than three years to show zone residents that he can materially improve their lives before they vote on whether to form a fully autonomous region themselves which would include ARMM.

"It is much easier to manage war than peace," says Misuari, contemplating the task ahead. He should know. In 1972, not long after strongman Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, Misuari quit his job teaching political science at the University of the Philippines to lead the MNLF into a guerrilla war. The rebels gained the upper hand in those first years of ferocious fighting. But it came at great cost -- not least to Misuari personally. His fisherman father died in 1975 after being hounded for years by the army. Misuari's younger brother Abdolcarim died in a firefight a year later.

It is Misuari's personal losses and famous fervor for the cause that make some wonder if he can transform himself from a man seeking to topple the system to an integral part of it. "How can you trust someone," asks Zamboanga City Congresswoman Maria Clara Lobregat, "who fought the government for 24 years and sought to subvert the Constitution?"

For his part, Ruben Torres, Ramos's chief of staff, says Misuari, now 57, should be an excellent administrator. "He is an experienced organization man. He has led his people for 24 years of struggle, worrying about food, arms, the battles he had to fight and even diplomacy." As if to prove the point, Misuari is keen to woo foreign investment. General Motors is contemplating a $4-billion investment. And this month, PMMahathir Mohamad vowed that Malaysia would take part in Mindanao's economic development. "One of the fastest ways to bring people, investors and tourists here is to improve infrastructure," says Misuari. "It's the key to our future. There is a dramatic transformation taking place in Mindanao."

Sometimes he almost sounds like a politician -- not the scion of a family of fighters. His grandfather Saleddin was a famous warrior. His mother's Bangingi tribe fought the Spanish. Why did Misuari hang up his fatigues? Torres reckons he "got tired of fighting." He adds: "I asked him: 'What have you achieved for your people? The Muslim areas are 50 years behind the rest of the country in development.'" And so, in 1997, Misuari sets out to provide answers. Bulatlat.com


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