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







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Tribulations of an Ex-Rebel

By Claire MacDonald and Raissa Espinosa-Robles 

Asiaweek

May 28, 1999

 

MUSLIMS ON THE ISLAND of Mindanao had a dream: autonomy would lead to better jobs, fewer deaths from gun battles, maybe even new roads, certainly three square meals a day. Their dream-maker was Nur Misuari. Today, two-and-a-half years after Misuari abandoned the balaclava and the bullet to become the respectable governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, his followers are losing patience with his promises. "People are disenchanted," says Parouk Hussin, Misuari's personal physician during his decade-long exile and now the foreign minister of the Moro National Liberation Front. Misuari spends much of his time in Manila courting investors. But the money isn't exactly flowing south into Mindanao, and many people feel neglected by their absent leader. Hope has turned bitter.

When Misuari led Muslim Mindanao's 24-year fight for independence, he had a common touch. The former political science professor scooped rice with his fingers from a communal plate. He wore batik shirts and a Sukarno cap. Now Misuari, 58, is chauffeured around the capital in a Mercedes Benz (a gift from an Arab supporter), eats with a fork and spoon and often wears Western suits. Colleagues had to advise him to check out of the five-star Dusit Hotel Nikko in suburban Manila. Misuari is instead based in more modest accommodations that used to house the Vietnamese embassy. If everybody back home were doing well, that would be one thing. But not much has changed for most in Mindanao. They call Misuari "a Manila boy," and that's not meant as a compliment.

Misuari is used to acting as he pleases, and is adamant that he's doing the right thing. "I know my priorities. I cannot spend my time sitting in that lonely place when so many investors are coming," he says. "I can be successful only by meeting them in Manila. They will not go [to Mindanao]. There are no facilities." Misuari tries to sell foreigners on the region's potential: untapped resources and cheap labor. He promises to talk to almost anybody at anytime. "I have no Sundays and Saturdays," he says. The governor personally accompanies investors to meet the officials who provide the necessary clearances and guarantees. He has to. Cabinet officials would give the cold-shoulder to someone of lesser stature than Misuari, says MNLF secretary-general Muslimin Sema.

The governor boasts that he has personally secured more than $1 billion in foreign investment pledges since signing the peace pact with Manila in 1996. But that doesn't satisfy his critics. "We don't see any development yet in the south," says Hussin. So where is the money? Misuari says that a large part of the billion dollars worth of investments was channeled through the national government which "made use of it without consulting [or crediting]" him. When pressed for details about the proposed investments, though, Misuari is vague. That's why some contend that he is exaggerating his success in raising money for Mindanao.

Misuari also complains that Manila is holding on to a good chunk of money allocated to the region in the 1998 annual budget. Only $3 million of some $20 million set aside for capital expenditures has been released so far. That money went to laying down a few more kilometers on Misuari's showcase project, a 163-km road that will one day circle Sulu province. "Why are they not giving us money? They want us to fail?" he asks. Getting money out of Manila is never easy. But it doesn't help that Misuari campaigned for President Joseph Estrada's rival.

Even Misuari's staunchest supporters have had enough. One loyal Mindanao-based MNLF leader warns: "If he continues to stay in Manila, that's the end of him. He is isolating himself from the people. People need him. His presence is better than money. Leadership is better than money." Hussin puts it this way: "If you are a leader of a revolutionary organization and if you are betraying the trust of the general population, then you are plotting your own ouster." But Misuari has quit the revolution, and he has no fears about being pushed from power. He calls the clamor over his new ways "idiotic," and says that his critics "don't know how much people love" him.

The governor is not yet in danger of losing his job, despite rumors that some are plotting to replace him. First, because no other leader is popular enough to challenge Misuari. And, says a top foreign affairs official in Manila: "They still need him. He's the only one who can raise funds." In short, Misuari is the acceptable face of Muslim Mindanao. The real problem may not be with the governor himself, but with the "paper autonomy" he agreed to, says a political analyst. Peace has transformed Misuari's armed revolution into a bureaucratic struggle for money. It gave him more responsibility than means. He promised more than he could deliver. Sounds like politics everywhere. But Muslims in Mindanao are having a hard time living with that. Bulatlat.com


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