A healthy environment for serious debate

Mike Mastura of the MILF peace panel is asking help from media to create what he calls a “healthy environment for serious debate.” The bottom line of his wish is that their side be given as much space to explain their cause.

I won’t even call it a debate since a debate connotes winners and losers and that is precisely the source of unnecessary enmities. I’m sticking to the word conversation, and we will have one tonight. Who knows that just by talking freely we will come up with common ideas that will bring peace. (I will tell you all about it tomorrow if indeed it was possible to create a “healthy environment for serious debate”. )

In deference to Muslim custom, because it is Ramadan, dinner will have to be after 6 or as Mike says precisely 6:10. Whatever, it will be a good time to break the customary fast during Ramadan. My son who has more experience in hosting Muslim friends during Ramadan says be sure you have dates or pastries. That is usually the first dishes served to break the fast. From there we talk our heads off.

If I know Mike he will be brimming with ideas so we can expect a lively conversation. One thing is clear, at least to me, we will talk as friends and need not be shackled by the unfortunate mishandling of the MOA-AD in Kuala Lumpur.

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Being convent-bred, I am eager to learn more of just what “the Moro Wars” were all about. Indeed, something is very wrong with my education if I grew up not knowing about the Moro wars which I now know was an essential part of our history. Was it deliberately suppressed? Or perhaps it was indeed mentioned but glossed over as if it did not matter. That has been the general attitude of Christians about the Muslims in Mindanao.

So at this late age, I’m perfectly happy to be given a new perspective other than that of thinking that the “Moros” do not matter in our history. I think that is a good starting point — revise our history books and give the anti colonial struggle of the Muslims the importance it deserves. How about the view that it was the Filipino nation’s bulwark against Western colonialism? (I can almost see my Muslim friends wince with the word Filipino because it is in itself of colonial origin — in honor of Philip II of Spain. Duh).

But we all have to live with the past and if that is one of the facts of the colonial past so be it. It does not mean we should persist with the ideas that colonialism engendered. Filipino Muslims have the duty to educate Christian Filipinos about the Moro wars and pass it on to future generations.

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That said, Filipino Muslims have a duty to re-frame their position in the light of that history as well. All those who lived in the islands at the time, whether they ultimately became Christians or whether they resisted to keep their Muslim way of life, had a common enemy — colonialism. The issue facing the central government of the Philippines today is no different from what the Muslims, aka Moros, fought against when it went to war against Spain and the United States — it is a continuing struggle against non-Muslim influences. It is supreme irony if the victims of that unfortunate historical mishap should now kill and maim each other. We must find the solution among ourselves and it will not be as simple as signing a MOA or carrying on a protracted war. Neither will create the peace and prosperity both sides desire.

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In this regard, it is interesting that in the peace negotiations between Libya and Italy one of the items of the agreement included a US$5 billion compensation for colonialism.

If colonialism is what brought the mess in the Muslim south, then it could also be argued that some compensation is due them following the model of the Italian-Libyan agreement. That could be another source of funding for development of the region which is described as one of the poorest in the country.

Italy occupied Libya for 30 years and left the country in 1943. The US$5 billion compensation package will be used for construction projects, student grants and pensions for Libyan soldiers who served with the Italians during World War II.

“It is a material and emotional recognition of the mistakes that our country has done to yours during the colonial era,” Berlusconi told reporters at the airport on his arrival. “This agreement opens the path to further cooperation.”

It would be interesting to play with ideas on how the same could be explored as far as the Americans are concerned. Instead of fighting each other, Filipino Christians in the north and Filipino Muslims in the south can find a common cause if they set their minds to it.

And while the Libyans and the Italians were exploring ideas for peace and reconciliation as it relates to the colonial era, it was also agreed that Italy would return the Venus of Cyrene, an ancient Roman statue taken in 1913 by Italian troops from the ruins of the Greek and Roman settlement of Cyrene, on the Libyan coast. The undefeated Filipino Muslims can help their Christian brothers recover the Balangiga bells, for example as a remembrance of their common history.

Needless to say all this must be conducted in peace, perhaps over dinner with halal food, dates and a lamb stew as menu. As it is, Filipinos are fighting each other, unable to move forward because they do not see it as it really is — a continuation of the fight against colonizers. The Muslims are equally at fault if they keep their blinders on by blaming it on the national government or the Christians. The task is to revive their commonality. It will take time to reach this level of amicable relations between the North and the South but we can begin. There are enough points for common cause if the proper route is taken. It is our duty as a people and as one nation to find them.