The real victims of the Sabah “standoff” crisis are ordinary Mindanaoans as Mindanao continues to be ruled by Manila as if it were a mere backwater colony, where Mindanaoans’ rights to “self-determination” is paid mere lip service. Manila is obviously of no use to Mindanao today. Throughout the crisis, the only clear words fielded to the besieged fighters of Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III by President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III were as pathetic as they were misguided: “Surrender now, without conditions.”
To be fair, it seems everyone was caught flat-footed by the unexpected incursion of Kiram’s fighters into the territory of Malaysian-governed state of Sabah. Both Kuala Lumpur and Manila were in the middle of setting into motion the execution of the “framework agreement” with Al Haj Murad, head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), creating an autonomous “extended” Bangsamoro region. The agreement is effectively a peace deal with Murad the main feature of which is the MILF’s renouncing any further separatist posturing and recognising Manila’s sovereignity over the Bangsamoro region.
[Photo courtesy MNLF Advocacy Blog.]
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Indeed, Kuala Lumpur and Manila have a lot of political and diplomatic capital invested in this project which is being bandied around as a significant milestone in the road to “peace” and economic prosperity in the Philippine Muslim south…
Helped by Bangsamoro’s main international backer, Muslim-majority Malaysia, the head of the MILF, Al Haj Murad, has been on a roadshow drumming up support and investment for the new, non-sovereign entity. The week before last he was an honoured guest at the eighth World Islamic Economic Forum in Johor Bahru, where his hosts, led by Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, treated him on a par with heads of state and national representatives. Very nice for the MILF, but also good politics for Malaysia. With a general election coming up, the Malaysian government wants to claim as much credit as it can for the peace agreement, which it helped to broker.
Unfortunately, left out of the loop in this much-celebrated erstwhile posterboy of international “peace” collaboration were “smaller Islamic militant groups in Mindanao” which, as is now clearly evident, includes people and groups still loyal to the Sultan of Sulu as well as the MILF’s “main rival” the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Interestingly, the origins of the MILF as a militant breakaway group from the more moderate MNLF was over disagreements with the direction being taken by the MNLF leadership back in 1977 towards renouncing its own separatist agenda in favour of a more “conciliatory” deal with Manila then, a direction which bore fruit ten years later for the MNLF…
In January 1987, the MNLF signed an agreement relinquishing its goal of independence for Muslim regions and accepting the government’s offer of autonomy. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the next largest faction, refused to accept the accord and initiated a brief offensive that ended in a truce later that month. By one estimate the Mindanao-based Moro Islamic Liberation Front fielded around 3,000 troops.
With the MILF now as gentrified as the MNLF and in bed with the creations of former colonial masters — the Kuala Lumpur and Manila governments of Malaysia and the Philippines respectively, it’s déjà vu all over again for the Philippine south’s Moro militants.
As the wise saying goes:
The common denominator in all your bad relationships is you.
Over the last 400 years, Manila under its various overlords has been the lowest common denominator in the many incarnations and “frameworks” of toxic relationships between the Philippines’ Christian north and their southern Muslim “brothers”. You’d think a person going through his or her fourth divorce would be getting the hint by now. The Philippine Government should seriously consider shopping around for a new therapist or life coach. A new “boss” perhaps? Anything to get it subscribed to more sensible thinking would be a welcome development after 400 years of the wrong arguments always “winning”.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
p-noy is more american-chinese than filipino so no-one should ever expect him to support filipinos, especially if tgere is no money in it for his family and backers. he has gine from a natiinal joke to a national disgrace
The president already said in his presscon that the ones who made the group and planned the assault in Sabah are certain members of the past administration (GMA regime) and the government has yet to find evidence.
Based on your article, the real victims are ordinary Mindanaoans. So it just concludes that it could be “she” that has errupted this standoff.
Ang layo ng logic mo, bobo. Sige nga, patunayan mo na si gma uli ang dapat sisihin dito. You can’t since you keep dodging the issue. What a pathetic troll.
@eduardo:
Since your logic defies rational explanation, and contributes virtually nothing to reasonable discussion, I will instead return the favor to you and say that Xanadu is the best disco song of all time.
An Arroyo-led conspiracy?
Ludicrous.
@eduardo
Naniwala ka naman dyan kay PNoy! Do your own thinking for once. If they still have to find evidence, then there is no basis for blaming it on GMA.
As usual, it’s a “blame-GMA” game. Really laughable.
It was laughable then and is still laughable even now. Eduardo is clearly running out of ammunition.. AGAIN.
BS Aquino has to seek professional psychiatric help for his morbid paranoia. Blaming GMA for everything is mark of a lazy disingenuous administration (kaya lalong walang napapala ang mga pinoy.) BS Aquino supporters keep people in the dark to remain ignorant.
This is why Getting Real is becoming more and more important. People need to be enlightened. But of course, what can GRP do if Malacanang uses money or material rewards and privileges to make its yellow supporters callous to moral principles? Meron pa bang natitira sa konsensya nitong mga alagad ni AbNoy?—I doubt it.
Question is, how long must you allow AbNoy’s administration and yellow supporters exploit or take advantage of you?
According to Teddy Locsin, Jr. on his Twitter:
“If GMA can plot all the way to Sabah from detention, she should be restored to the presidency.”
Nah, the real victims here are gullible fools like you because the Philippines is now a hellhole where every hearsay or conspiracy theory can be now considered as “truth”. Fact is no one gives a sh*t about Mindanao, except for fancies like this. Period.
Just as the same as putting GMA in the Maguindanao Massacre. And guess what? It was proven as false. You lose. 😛
Aquino now ” it’s a conspiracy”
No doubt arroyo orchestrating from her isolated hospital room!
Paranoia meets desperation.
the boy is a fool
He posted yet another pathetic attempt to link the mess aquino made to GMA. Seriously, he is too pathetic to even come up with a legit and credible post. Benign0, I humbly ask to delete all comments from eduardo since he is only spouting yellow propaganda crap.
Massacres always have low priority with p-noy, so no doubt he will just carry on campaigning.
Apart from sabah, still silence on atimonan massacre report – can he delay reading it until after the elections! Mmm
Noynoy should bring the issue to ICJ! That’s all they wanted (Kiram’s Family)unless he’s cooking something for the benifits of family and minions.
The dispute over the sovereignty of Sabah has been brought to the attention of the UN and the International Court of Justice. The matter has been discussed since the administration of President Macapagal. All entreaties have been thus far ignored by Malaysia. The current standoff will not force Malaysia to own up to their act of aggression in 1963. Rather, Malaysia is more likely to bring a case AGAINST the Philippines for allowing a group of Filipinos to commit an act of war.
Comparing the Sultan Kiram’s group with Nur Misuari’s MNLF and Hashim Salamat’s MILF is a classic apples and oranges deal. When the MNLF was formed, it had the blessing and logistical support of Malaysia. They also maintained close ties to Libya. When the MILF broke away from Nur Misuari, they based their operations first in Cairo, Egypt, then in Lahore, Pakistan. These are both centers for the Muslim Brotherhood and affiliated extremist Islamic militant organizations. That gave the MILF access to money and support from Al Qaeda, the Taliban and Saudi Salafists. This kind of backing allowed the Moro rebels to maintain a protracted conflict against Manila.
In contrast, Sultan Kiram has to have dialysis several times a week. For which he apparently needs to take in donations to meet the high cost of medical care. (Robin Padilla recently made a PhP500,000 donation to this end.) Even if he didn’t have a medical condition, the sultan’s extended family has never been united in their claim. Several different factions claim the sultan’s seat and this has undermined their position. It is for this reason Malaysia claims that there is no clear party with whom to negotiate (IF they were to negotiate). Apart from the debacle that has put him in the limelight, Sultan Kiram is little different from ther other run-of-the-mill political warlords peppering the archipelago. Left to his own devices, Sultan Kiram will likely end up as just another footnote to the long, frustrating and tumultuous history of Mindanao.
Just had an interesting discovery, apparently in 2011, a seemingly Malaysian businessman was claiming that he was a direct descendant of the last reigning Sultan of Sulu, haha. I must say, this is really a clusterfuck.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2011/02/07/sabah-trader-crowned-sultan-of-sulu/
I was never for getting Sabah through violent means. But the way the current admin has handled it was a complete screw-up. There is no show of concern for one’s own countrymen. Instead, rebuke goes out to them. It’s likely the Sabah crisis team they just put is only for damage control and restriction of information, rather than handling the crisis itself. The current admin should show concern for the welfare of Sultan Kiram’s people there, and intervene on their behalf.
For starters, The government right now is doing it’s regular routine… all QUACK and no action, like on the news earlier…
B.S.Aquino accusing again the previous administration for backing the standoff… He is just Bragging SHIT Again!!!
If BS Aquino, really wants to help out our muslim brothers is to support them in their quest to get sabah back and raise the concern again to the UN, ASEAN and the ICJ-International Court of Justice, while this is happening…. We are still in the upper hand but it seems that he is not playing his cards right…. Our countrymen are putting their lives in the line of fire to secure what is ours…. It seems that he is still having second thoughts and doubts if “THE FILIPINO PEOPLE IS WORHT DYING FOR?”
If there is one thing about p-noy it is his predictability, born from out of his political inexperience and personal deficiencies. As a gambler, he would always be a loser, and when he plays with peoples lives he ends up with their blood on his hands, not that it would bother him.
As crisis after crisis has unfolded on his watch the pattern has remained the same
Lack of ability to comprehend situations
Lack of empathy with those involved
Tunnel vision – inability to listen
Hide/disappear to buy time
Hope the problem goes away
Waffle on detail and miss/avoid the main issue
Find excuse by blaming others
Hit out at any criticism
Try diversion
At no stage is there ever any display of statemanship, dynamism, decision making, leadership, or unity.
A good case study on how not to lead, or problem solve
Aquino is now in hiding. It’s like the Luneta Hostage Crissis again. Sabah is not Hacienda Luisita. Now, he is again blaming people, who created the conflict. This retarded Aquino, cannot solve any crissis. He finds people to blame instead; to cover his own cowardice and incompetence.
In the end, it will come back to bite aquino hard in the ass. Aquino’s house of cards are crashing down.
Soon, he will be forced to either resign to save face or if not then he’ll get kicked out of malacanang by the very people that sworn him in due to his obvious betrayal of the filipino people.
The malacanang trolls are running out of time and ammunition since there is no evidence linking gma to this mess that aquino made in the first place.
The end is near for aquino’s sorry excuse for a presidency.
Noynoy is well noynoying again and most likely doesn’t give a damn thing what is happening in Sabah. He is too busy ensuring a 12-0 in the May elections so his peace treaty with MILF can be secured.
Another thing is that he might be thinking let successor handle this problem. Well for what I been read in other news, what Noynoy is doing is quite impeachable.
Yep, noynoy will definitely get impeached for this betrayal.
Contrary to what the malacanang trolls will claim, it is very clear that aquino has sold the filipinos in sabah to the malaysian government.
No matter what they would say to defend their falling boss, the damage has already been done.
There is no way out for aquino this time since the blame gma card is already worn out.
I’m thinking of ways to remove an idiot from office. Fast!!!
Impeachment?— Such a waste of time, effort and money, not to say that the majority of votes is in his control.
People Power?—Lame, and with an idiot on office, based on his family records, it will turn up to a massacre.
Coup de etat?— Plausible, but i haven’t seen a coup plot that succeded here in our country.
Assasination?— Bad Idea, It will only make him a hero..
Do you have anything in mind? I’m running out of ideas. Hehehe
Nice one Kenneth and I support you on this one. I’m just an ordinary citizen who is also thinking of ways to get this ‘bulok’ president out!
Guys – ideas please?
Noynoy the Abnoy is an Americanized Filipino-Chinese dictator in Filipinas. No wonder he did nothing in Spratlys, Sabah, and Mindanao.
GMA really did gave money to buy votes… i’m from mindanao and also mangudadatu knows that because he also recieved money back before the mag massacre… well it’s a if-you-cant-beat-them-join-them game here in mindanao if you are a politician…
we here now at mindanao, experience the side effects of the bangsamoro agreement… even now that the agreement was not yet obtained or accomplished, we see the negative effects… what more if it were passed?
abusive muslims taking lands of christians.
and also they have no right to take the land or get credit from it… they shoo away the real natives like manobos from their own lands back before…
if they really want peace, shouldn’t they be giving it freely without conditions?
these paople has black propagandas and hidden agendas…
Yeah, I agree. I’m from Mindanao as well. There are more Christians and Lumads (Manobos, Higaonons, etc.) than Muslims here.
Ibalik ang ILAGA—
and like the government, MNLF also has their branches… pentagon kidnappers, milf, biff… ever wondered why mnlf does nothing to stop biff? think of it…
they want a sub government… how would they be managing or governing a sub government if they themselves can’t manage or govern their own people?
it’s like spoiling a boy to become a horrible man someday… letting them get what they want…
ERAP would never betray our country…
GMA? vote buyer… BSA? THE BIGGEST COWARD, president pabida…