The following text was adapted
from Eugenio of Namayan’s speech delivered to the members of the “Royal
Assembly of Senators” of Namayan – a political simulation entity with roughly
fifty members concentrated in the Philippines. It is outdated.
To the readers of
this text,
I salute you for taking the
time to read this short piece. I wrote this short blogpost because I have been
concerned recently about the security situation in our country as various
insurgencies have escalated in many parts of our country, our fatherland.
Long-running communist and Moro insurgencies continue to grapple the security
situation of our homeland.
First of all, I would like to
say that I am not in any way against the recognition of the plight of the
Bangsamoro people. I am indeed sympathetic to those who have been oppressed by
brutal and discriminatory regimes. My sympathy to the plight of numerous
indigenous groups was sparked after I (as an autodidact) diligently studied the
brief history of the pre-Hispanic Philippine kingdoms, sultanates, and states, which
effectively made me aware about the sociocultural and religious diversity of
the Philippines. I believe this cultural diversity is seemingly threatened by
aggressive westernization and cultural assimilation. In short, colonization and
the traditions and religion the colonizers brought separated us ethnic Malays.
In the south, the culture of the Malays was preserved for three hundred years
because Moro and Lumad peoples in Western Mindanao never allowed themselves to
be fully subjugated by the colonizers. The Moro people valiantly defended their
sovereignty and the stewardship of their homeland. Sadly, the national
government only addressed their grievances after bloodshed. The Autonomous
Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), however, failed to live up to its
expectations and is still a grim reminder of the nation’s problems. This
autonomous region is still plagued with corruption, ignorance, social injustice,
private armed groups, terrorism, and political monopoly. These internal
problems should be resolved before tinkering around with an upgraded autonomous
entity, and I think the current administration is doing its part to do so.
I hereby declare my conditional
support to the Bangsamoro Basic Law. I believe it has the potential to bring
lasting peace in Mindanao but it should only be passed once the Muslim rebels
and mujahedeen show good faith by having their arms decommissioned. This should
be overseen directly not only by the Philippine government, which is mistrusted
by the Moro rebels, but also by the International Monitoring Team preferably
flanked by numerous journalists both local and foreign. Honestly, however, I
would rather see the Philippines transform from a unitary state into a federal
state just like Malaysia complete with a symbolic monarchy. This is evident in
my ongoing literary work, which depicts the rise of an egalitarian Greater
Malay Confederation lead by a symbolic Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Unfortunately,
effects of colonization would still have a bearing on this theoretical plan.
How? Well, majority of the Filipinos claim to be Christian (I’ve seen a lot of
nominal nearly faithless Christians who only became Christian because they were
“born in it”.) Being Christian is incompatible to the notion of “Masuk Melayu”
(entering the “Malay world”) in which one must first become a Muslim before
being fully Malay, a condition also stipulated in the 2010 Federal Constitution
of Malaysia (Liow, 2010). This apparently has been imbedded in the minds of
Malaysians. Like my Malaysian acquaintance who said “I always [hear] and read that
a person must be Muslim, fluent in the Malay language and follows Malay customs
[before he is considered a Malay].” To
be honest, I feel sad about Masuk Melayu’s religious requirements, since it
borders on discrimination based on religion. After the aggressive polities of
the United Malays National Organization Party in Malaysia, a country where
approximately 60 percent of the population is Muslim, it is common to conflate
religious identitya with ethnicity and citizenship (Liow, 2010). Leaving Islam
is also considered taboo and the apostate doing so will lose his membership in
the “Malay race” (Mueller, 2014). I have heard from my Malaysian acquaintance (and
this can be supported with adequate research) that non-Muslims minority groups
in Malaysia are sometimes discriminated. The dream of a Greater Malay
Confederation is therefore reduced to a mere hypothetical situation.
The reason why I included
Malayisation in this discussion is because of the perceived goal of many our
Filipino Muslim fellowmen. Some of them feel more religiously and culturally
affiliated with Malaysia rather than predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.
Is there a possibility of compromise to water down potential religious
conflicts and to simmer down warmongers? I believe so.
I believe secularism, done in
a balanced manner, is the best method to preserve religious equality. Right
now, the Philippines is far from being secular, since the separation of church
and state is still not widely respected. Although I recognize the fact that
religion can unite or severely divide, there should be measures taken to
safeguard the peaceful coexistence of different belief systems without
excessive government meddling. Religious freedom will be useless if it is only
allowed when its beliefs fit the current government policies (Trigg, 2012). In
the Philippines, government sectors are still Roman Catholic-dominated. The powerful
church, if it wants to have a place in government affairs should first pay taxes,
a feat they can easily do using the hordes of donations they receive. I am
pushing for secularism mainly because I saw the diversity of beliefs in our
country and I saw how they are somehow overshadowed by government-sponsored
Roman Catholic religious events. I truly believe secularism will pave the way
for religious (and non-religious) equality in our homeland. The government
shall be neutral but respectful to the traditions of religious and irreligious
people alike, as long as it does not border on radical or extremist beliefs.
(One man’s freedom should not encroach upon another man’s freedom.)
Lastly, both sides should not
let their emotions cloud their reason, let knowledge erase their prejudice.
Peace-loving Muslims should also work hard to stop the radicalization of their
brothers by evil terrorist groups. I am continuing to hope that the Bangsamoro
Basic Law will pave the way for long lasting peace in our united Philippines.
Let’s continue to hope for the best for our country. Good day to all!
References:
Liow, J. (2010, February 10).
No God But God. Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/65961/joseph-chinyong-liow/no-god-but-god
Mueller, D. (2014). Islam, Politics and Youth in
Malaysia: The Pop-Islamist Reinvention of PAS(pp. 11-12). Routledge.
Trigg, R. (2012). Equality, Freedom, and Religion.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Buendia, R. (2004). The GRP‑MILF
Peace Talks: Quo Vadis? Southeast Asian Affairs 2004, 205-221.
