The Mishandling of the Sabah Standoff by the Aquino administration has now escalated to a point of tragic consequence for the followers of the Sultanate and even local Sabahans of Philippine origins that were not involved in the disturbance.
Let’s face it, one has to be a misguided highly Trapo (Traditional Politician) partisan to think this president can never do wrong. Sadly despite the evidence of incompetency people should realize by now that they are dead wrong into thinking this president is really capable of leading us towards a narrow straight path of righteousness. We must really start reflecting deeply on how we see Philippine patronage politics controlled by political dynasties or get stuck in a never ending vicious cycle of hopelessness. After all this president got into the top by a twist of fate without any effort and brilliant political career behind him except his pedigree and people’s emotional illusions thinking he would live up to his parents ideals and fill in the unfinished task that we delude ourselves are their destiny in our nation’s redemption.
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| Image courtesy of: Fred Amores of the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum |
The Sabah standoff could have been averted in the first place had this president paid attention but the problem is when ignorance and feudal overlord arrogance gets the better of him his landed gentry roots unravels right before the national public exposing his ugly demeanor. A shocking unexpected demeanor and a display of ignorance and arrogance coming from a president but as much as we want to believe we are really in denial that this president despite his landed gentry roots can handle the issue before him in a manner befitting a statesman. Instead what we saw unravel was a never ending embarrassing un-presidential episode in insulting and disrespecting the aggrieved Sultanate of Sulu instead of defusing the built up of decades long frustration and exasperation of government neglect and indifference.As the crisis deepens he is even sounding more like Gloria Arroyo who once proudly touted she is Inang Bayan (Nation's Mother) saying lately that as the nations Tangnang este father his primary concern is the pursuit of peace. There is nothing wrong with going over the top at times but is he really that clueless, how can he say he is the nation's father when he is a bachelor? Well he probably sired children we know nothing about or he just didn't realize that with that pronouncement we are basically reduced as his bastard sons and daughters.
It does not matter whether their armed “intrusion” (which is really debatable) was foolhardy but the point is had this president not lose the letter asking for his guidance and eventually ignoring 2 more follow up letters, any aggrieved party will of course be angry and may just resort to making a very strong political statement that can have serious repercussions. It does not help that Noynoy Aquino’s ignorance and arrogance has just strengthened the resolve of the Sultanate’s followers led by Sultan Jamalul Kiram III’s brother Raja Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram to risk their lives and stuck it out in the standoff that encouraged Aquinos’ BFF Malaysian war freak PM Najib Tun Razak to unleash their military might against a token not even a rag tag band of Sultanates followers. All because Aquino’s master has loss his patience and has now issued an ultimatum to surrender of face the consequence and instead of sending seasoned diplomats to defuse the situation this president even coldly taunted them by saying they brought it upon themselves. With a president like that showing his prejudice and uncaring attitude towards his people who needs to be in a country like that?
What is worse is when the President and his Justice Secretary seems out of synch. When the Malaysians asked for the possibility of repatriating Sultan Jamalul Kiram III Justice Secretary De Lima says they will if it is warranted while the President says no because there was no treaty. That is the problem when you involved the wrong department (DoJ) instructing them to do a study on the “validity” of the claim as if a lap dog goes on researching instead what laws the Sultan and his followers broke. Clearly the Sabah standoff is one crisis that should be handled diplomatically but this president thinks it is a local issue and instructed his other BFF Mar Roxas to take charge when it should be under the Foreign Affairs department. Now who wants a president that is neither here nor there? He says we are being pushed into the brink of war and yet he questions the validity of the claim and worse appears to side with Malaysia, speaking as if he was a Najib Tun Razak's clone. As I have said in earlier post the timing of the Sultanate is off and should have chosen a different time of the year that is not election season because it is the time of the year when people suffer from altered perception of reality. Now despite Aquino’s popularity going down he never listen to his advisers not to open his ignorant arrogant mouth but still do because he probably thought he is running for office in Malaysia. His ratings are way up there even if we don’t conduct a survey because of his lap dog closeness to Najib Tun Razak.
In the said article he pointed out the role of the Malaysian government in the 5 decades old Mindanao conflict. Upon reading the article I was surprised that such perspective from the other side of the border that actually makes sense exist and sees the problem caused by Malaysians or specifically their politicians’ role in training and arming Muslim insurgents in Mindanao was given space.
While it’s probably shocking to Malaysian readers, the observation has some limitations when he fails to mention that Sabah also served as a safe sanctuary for the Mindanao rebels and now that they are facing the consequence in causing 50 years of conflict and instability in the Philippines their military response is at best dumb as ever.
Indeed I see the logic of his observation that the only way to resolve the issue is for all the stakeholders, Malaysia, Philippines, Sultanate of Sulu, Sabahans, and the UN to sit in the negotiation table. Once again if they truly want a fair, just and lasting solution they should also include the migrant workers, immigrants, asylum seekers, traders, and the nomadic Badjaos instead of bombing the Sultan’s people who now realized that their guns should have been pointed at the Malaysian direction all along. 200 thousand people lost their lives on both the Philippine government and rebel side all because the Malaysians resented the botched clandestine never implemented Olan Merdeka to sabotage and start a civil war in Sabah of the late Philippine dictator Marcos. In the same manner that the insurgency was triggered by the Jabidah massacre due to government neglect of Mindanao to which the Malaysians seized the opportunity to foment separatist rebellion . But come to think of it, it was never implemented and in order for the word not to spread they massacred all the trainees, unluckily for them one survivor was able to escape. And because of that 200 thousand people has to die, shouldn't they have just ran after Marcos, which is a better option? What is even sad is when some Marcos loyalist (oh yeah they still exist unlike the dinosaurs, LOL) would rather blame Ninoy Aquino for exposing the massacre and Operation Merdeka, no wonder the conflict lasted 50 years and counting we have people with not just altered perception of reality but also deranged sense of justice.
Now that they are sensing that they are bound to be in the same predicament they unjustly put the Philippine government for 50 years and counting their response truly reflects their war freak mentality and cruelty that they ought to be ashamed since this ugly mindset in this day and age is so passé’ and uncivilized. What is ironic is that these are just a rag tag armed Sulu Sultan's followers and they are already in a panic mode as if they have been invaded by a marauding force when armed incursion was just holding back their position in an act of defiance. Imagine the havoc they can cause once all the ethnic Philippine Muslims unite and realized that the cause of their misery and losing their loved ones was orchestrated by Malaysia?
The Muslims of different ethnicity after all these years knew all along that they are neglected by their respective governments. The Mindanao conflict would not have lasted this long had it been just to avenge their Muslim brothers massacred in Corregidor, it was also about the neglect and prejudice that they see compounded by the influx of Christian migrants from Luzon and Visayas that they perceived are taking over their ancestral lands. Mindanao just like Sabah is rich in natural resources and there is no denying that they are the milking cow of Malaysia thus no matter what happened they are vent on holding on to it at whatever cost. The similarities of the condition wherein the Muslims sees themselves as the victim of oppression and discrimination and the governments of Malaysia and the Philippines neglect of their ancestral land it is not a remote possibility that a federation of SSS may just form one of these days. A federation composed of Sulu, Sabah, and Sarawak because the conflict is a never ending one owing to the fact that Malaysia and the Philippine government think that repeating the same mistake of not including all the stakeholders in the negotiating table all over again will produce a different result.
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