Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Issue No. 41 November 25 - December 1, 2001 Quezon City, Philippines |
Misuari
Has Shed Off All Revolutionary Feathers By
Salman Madani
It
is very painful to write about a fellow struggler like Nur Misuari, who once led
the movement to free the Bangsamoro people from the fetters of bondage and
servitude. But higher cause demands that we sometimes spare no one in our search
for truth and legitimacy. When
Misuari accepted the job as special envoy to the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC), he has lost all the elements of being a revolutionary. He is
now a full-fledged government man and a part of the system. Hands in shackles
and mind in captivity now, he can only afford to fight for reforms within the
system, which he once criticized as oppressive and exploitative and for which,
consequently, he bitterly denounced his predecessors for paying lip service to
the plight of the Moros As
envoy of the Philippine government -- not of his people -- Misuari is not
unexpected to push for the interests of the government especially when the
GRP-MILF peace talks start. Cotabato City mayor Muslimin Sema was once offered a
similar job, as member of the GRP negotiating panel, but he refused citing, as
one reason, the none implementation of the GRP-MNLF accord of 1996. He earned,
on the process, the “thumbs-up” sign from Moro professionals and
intellectuals for this stand. Why
did Misuari accept the job? One
most probable reason is that he had lost all hopes of having the agreement with
the government implemented in satisfactorily by the bill authored by Senator
Aquilino Pimentel Jr. This
law recently passed by Congress, House Bill No. 2129, which amends the ARMM
Organic Act, is a far cry from what the GRP-MNLF Final Agreement had contained.
Even before it becomes into law after a plebiscite has been conducted for the
purpose, the MNLF had already branded it as unacceptable. But
this protestation is more bark than bite. The MNLF has very few options, two or
utmost three. Go to war as what Misuari repeatedly chanted; adopt a passive
attitude by doing little or nothing; or to integrate fully into the Philippine
body politic. Seemingly, the situation is dragging Misuari towards the third
option; hence, his appointment as special envoy. Yasser
Arafat, chair of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, had set aside arm
struggle in favor of a negotiated political settlement for the Palestinian
problem.
But even after the lapse of many decades and the collapse of the peace
process, he is still relevant to the cause of his people and rightly or wrongly,
he is very much a part of the intifada or uprising in the Gaza and West Bank. The
case of Misuari is very different. Instead of waiting for the full and
satisfactory implementation of the accord, he goes several steps ahead by
accepting jobs in the government thereby losing his moral authority to force her
to comply, which, in effect, would embolden the government even more to go slow
or even forget her commitment made to the MNLF. Put
in concrete reality, can Misuari do otherwise? Given the facts that most of the
MNLF leaders are in the government and forces already integrated into the AFP
now? In
our visit to several Muslim countries last year, during the height of the
all-out war waged against the MILF by the Estrada administration, one ambassador
belonging to a member state of the Committee of Six had bluntly told us: “ If
I were the ambassador of my country [in Manila] during the GRP-MNLF peace talks,
that kind of agreement would not be signed.” He was referring to the
integrative character of this agreement, which operates to the disadvantage of
the MNLF. As
comrades in the struggle for so many years, we know many of the MNLF leaders
were as committed to the cause as we are in the MILF. But it was the reformist,
nay “confused”, line pursued by Misuari, which led them to where they are
now. Those
who did not follow this line are divided into several groupings: Some joined the
MILF, others formed another group, and some simply stayed dormant ever since.
Few are still smarting the idea of taking over the leadership of the MNLF and
carry on the fight towards final liberation. Getting
jobs, going to schools, entering the army, the police or any of the branches of
the AFP and the government, can be effected even without launching an armed
struggle. In war, people are getting killed, millions worth of properties are lost, and thousands upon thousands of people are uprooted from their homes. War is a terrible menace that few people can withstand the trials and tribulations over an extended period of time. Bulatlat.com
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