ON TARGET
Malaysia has no respect for PH
By Ramon TulfoPhilippine Daily Inquirer
No matter how strong Malacañang protests the abuses committed against Filipinos in Sabah in the aftermath of the gunbattle between Malaysian security forces and men of the Sulu sultan, it will just fall on deaf ears.
Why? Because Malaysia thinks the country owes it a debt of gratitude for brokering the peace talks between our government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Since President Noy has sided with Malaysia instead of the Sultanate of Sulu over the latter’s Sabah claim, Malaysia takes this as a license to abuse Filipinos in the contested island-state.
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If Malaysia has any respect for the Philippines at all, it should have allowed a Navy ship sent to Sabah to ferry Filipinos fleeing the violence that erupted there.
The Navy ship could not enter the Malaysian-Philippine border to undertake a humanitarian mission.
That’s how much Malaysians look down on us.
We are being bullied by a neighbor because we don’t have the means to fight back.
Things would have been different if we had the military strength to match Malaysia’s, but we don’t.
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Malaysia apparently thinks that since the Philippines cannot handle its Moro insurgency problem that it had to seek Malaysia’s help, how could this country stand up to its neighbor that flogs its citizens in Sabah?
The Philippines is like the parent who can’t do anything while bully Malaysia beats up his children.
Develop your muscles first before you can even confront me over the beating of your children, the muscle-bound bully tells the weakling parent.
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If Malaysia thinks that applying strong-arm tactics against the Tausugs (Muslims from Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) in Sabah will weaken their resolve to fight, it doesn’t know the Tausugs.
Fighting is a way of life for the Tausugs.
Malaysia should know that since it supported the Tausugs in fighting the government of Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s and 1980s.
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The new director of the Bureau of Corrections is retired police general Franklin Jesus Bucayo.
A member of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1981, Bucayo was a police regional director in the Ilocos provinces before he retired.
As host of a public service show, I dealt with Bucayo when he was still a major in the defunct Philippine Constabulary, and I found him a very efficient worker.
The corrections bureau will certainly benefit from Bucayo’s vaunted efficiency.
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Tags: Borneo , Conflict , Foreign affairs , Global Nation , international relations , Malaysia , Philippines , Sabah standoff , Sultan Jamalul Kiram III , sultanate of Sulu , Territorial dispute
