Disturbing
By Noralyn Mustafa

SOME time ago I met, at a conference in Manila, a former schoolmate in high school, now an expat for the past several years in the United Sates. But he had kept himself abreast of developments here, especially those affecting the Muslims. In fact, the reason that he attended the conference was to see how he "could be of help" in "uplifting" the Muslim community.

He was bothered, he said, about stories of discrimination and prejudice against them and thought it unbelievable that "at this time and age" so much bigotry could still exist in a society that prides itself in being the showcase of democracy in Southeast Asia.

But he also wondered whether the Muslims themselves should not, in fact, take the greater part of the blame for this unfortunate state of affairs.

Quite apart from the continuing threat to peace and order posed by separatist elements and groups like the Abu Sayyaf that has inevitably generated dread and animosity among Christians and Muslims in general, there is the more insidious problem of the Muslim whose psyche, despite the benefit of education and privilege, cannot seem to conform to the basic principles of democracy.

We keep on demanding, he said, positions in the national government, but once we are there, what do we do?

What is it about Muslim officials, whether elective or appointive, that almost always results in an abysmal record of graft, corruption, incompetence, nepotism?

He went on to cite the autonomous government, the Amanah Bank and various other dismal failures of Muslims at governance and administration.

It was a question to which neither of us could find any definite answer, because definite answers like greed and lust for power could be applicable anywhere and to anyone, whether Christian or Muslim.

But the tragedy is, the educated, privileged Muslim should not be like "anyone," for the simple reason that he is, by the confluent circumstances of history and demography, to which he is inevitably accountable, not just anyone.

When discussing topics like this with fellow Muslims, I invariably borrow a phrase from a Basque writer whose name escapes me at the moment, who in writing about the difficult relations between his own ethnic community in the Iberian peninsula and the Spanish majority, defined this accountability as "the burden of the ethnic minority."

This burden, as he describes it, could more rightly be called responsibility-the responsibility of the ethnic minority to make himself as good as, if not better than, the majority. This, he said, was "working from within," which was "the only way" to co-exist, of gaining acceptance and in the more ideal situation, even of attaining recognition.

The obvious antithesis to this idea is of course the use of force, specifically armed struggle, because, emanating as it does from a numerically inferior sector, would only result in a cycle of covert attack by the inferior force and overt counter-attack by the superior force and so on, at the catastrophic expense of the populace.

We in this country especially, are witnesses to its consequences.

There is the government policy of appeasement in the guise of reconciliation; there are the erstwhile revolutionaries who, intoxicated by newfound power, metamorphose into perfect clones of the traditional politicians that they once fought against; and local chieftains, empowered by their share of the spoils, take their government positions as feudal turf and sinecures.

But deeper and more damaging is its effect on the relations between the minority and the majority: resentment against the government for what they perceive is giving in too much to the minority, mistrust and grudging tolerance.

And, to the Muslim community itself, falls the tragedy of generalization. Ignored in this equation is the productive sector of Muslim businessmen, academicians, professionals, scholars, scientists, artists, etc., who go about their business, obeying the law, paying taxes, getting themselves educated.

Now here we go again.

Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong who was the first chairperson of half (Region 12) of the Marcos version of the autonomous government, has issued an order on the eve of his resignation, for the review of the case of jailed former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Nur Misuari who is being charged with rebellion; ordering further, that such review be conducted in Zamboanga City.

This of course has raised many questions, the more obvious of which are: why just Misuari and not the scores of those summarily arrested on suspicion of being members of the Abu Sayyaf and who are languishing in jail? In several cases their families don't even know where they are.

And why, in heaven's name, Zamboanga City? In the first, there is already so much animosity felt by the residents, especially Mayor Maria Clara Lobregat, against Misuari and his followers. They have unequivocally expressed this by consistently rejecting the inclusion of the city in the autonomous region. And not without reason.

More than this, we hope the good secretary is aware that not too long ago, the whole city was terrorized when a number of residents were held hostage and paraded as human shields by the forces of Misuari under his nephew Julhambri.

Zamboanga City remains the only refuge of the majority of peace-loving Tausugs who fled the devastation in Jolo that resulted from the attacks on the town by Misuari's forces in 1974. They just want to live in peace.

If only for this, we appeal to Secretary Datumanong: Don't.

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