The Sabah powder keg

In two previous columns, I have brought attention to the issue of Sabah. The first time it broke three weeks ago, I warned that work was cut out for President Noynoy Aquino as members of the Sulu Sultanate began occupying a section of Lahad Datu. Last week, I hinted that the Lahad Datu incident was just the beginning of things to come.

I am no prophet or seer but it seems that what I wrote these past three weeks have borne me out correctly. Why? Because instead of addressing the issue head on, President Aquino chose instead to go campaigning for his senators as if dismissing the Sabah incident as nothing more than a tiny chink in his shiny armor. Now it appears that the tack he took from whoever gave him advice, was so ill-thought of such that Aquino has now lost the upper hand in convincing the Sultanate to peacefully withdraw from Sabah.

It is now a matter of time for the impact of the violence to spill over to the rest of the Tausug realm, which incidentally, does not just include the Sulu Archipelago but many of the islands dotting Sabah within Malaysian territory. Ever since the Moro rebellion of the 1970s, an untold number of these Tausugs had sought refuge in many parts of Sabah. Now it appears that they are so well placed to escalate the impasse at Lahad Datu. This is probably the reason the Rajah Muda or Crown Prince of the sultanate, Agbimuddin, is still safely ensconced inside Sabah, safe from the aerial bombings that have now ensued courtesy of the Malaysian Armed Forces. In short, he can find refuge among the many Tausugs who have long settled in Sabah.

What did Aquino do when this incident broke out three weeks back? He announced that a study was being conducted before he could decide on the matter and then went off to do some campaigning. I am reminded of this racist joke about a contest of manufacturers from America, Japan and the Philippines. Each was assigned a factory and was given the same material and told to build something out of aluminium sheets using all kinds of tools at their disposal. Whoever could make something out of these in the shortest time was the winner. Do you know who won? The Americans immediately went to work and produced a small prototype airplane body in six hours. The Japanese carried out a platform system and built the body of a car in just five hours. When the judges went to the factory of the Filipinos, they were all surprised to see them reading and not doing anything. When asked why, the leader of the Filipinos replied, “We had to create a committee to do a study of the materials first, before we could proceed.”

By simply dismissing the Lahad Datu incursion three weeks ago, Aquino now faces the distinct reality that his senators may soon lose the vote of Muslim Mindanao and Sulu if he continues to ignore the warnings and doomsday scenarios that have gradually become reality. Worse, instead of finding a way to reach out to the Kirams, the Aquino government now needs to unburden itself of the perception that it is pro-Malaysia at the expense of Filipino Muslims now dying in Sabah.

The worst part is the blame game that Aquino has resorted to, accusing people under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of instigating the incident– with the caveat that he has yet to name names as he is still gathering evidence. Is this a prelude to more suspensions of public officials in the opposition as the elections near on the pretext that they had been part of this dubious plot? Has the opportunity presented itself for the Aquino government to begin decimating the opposition as the election nears?

There is no doubt that the crisis in Sabah is a powder keg waiting to explode in the face of the Aquino presidency. The question to ask now is simple: When are you going to seek redress in the International Court of Justice now that Malaysia has, instead of following the path of peace, shown its violent streak despite the possibilities that this impasse could have been ended peacefully?

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To mark International Women’s Day, the Women in Literary Arts (WILA) and the Cathedral Museum of Cebu present “Phenomenal Woman,, an evening of poetry, music and dance at the Centennial Garden of the museum tomorrow, March 8 at 6 o’clock in the evening. Admission is free but people ought to bring food and drinks as this is an informal affair to be marked also by agape, the sharing of gustatory resources (meaning, the food you love best!). This event comes in the wake of the successful holding of “Gugma ug Pagsalig” a night of poetry reading and singing to mark Valentine’s Day, also hosted by both WILA and the museum last Feb. 15. See you all there.