Bigotry
By Antonio Montalvan II
Inquirer News Service

ONE can easily rattle off places around the world where there is harmonious co-existence among peoples of differing religious persuasions. Closer to home is Malaysia, one of the finest examples of a nation Muslims live so well with non-Muslims, both in private and public life.

In this age of Muslim bashing, one easily gets the impression of an anti-Islamic United States of America. (But no, American Muslims have generally blended so well with the rest of the American populace these past decades. One can see, for instance, a popular tide of acceptance of Muslim Americans who are in the public eye, especially well-known sports figures.) One gets easily swayed, therefore, by the notion of Mindanao divided by a great cultural chasm between Muslims and Christians.

Too often, I have been asked by Manila-based friends, always with the look of apprehension in their eyes, how our situation in Mindanao is. And always, upon being introduced for the first time to Manila-based persons who are told that I live in Mindanao, the introduction is consistently followed by an instant quiz on how life in Mindanao is.
Meaning, of course, that there is this perception that we live in a troubled land where bullets are eaten for breakfast.

I must admit at being annoyed by such ignorance. Of course, life in Mindanao has never been so good. The truth is, there actually are many pockets in Mindanao where Christians and Muslims have co-existed so peacefully for decades. Easily I can tick off the names of these places. And I am not just talking about contemporary times. There had been periods in Mindanao's history when the cultural divide between Muslims and non-Muslims was unknown.

An interesting case in point was the entry of Chinese trading pioneers into the Moro areas of Mindanao, antedating even the coming of the Spaniards. In Maguindanao, for instance, many prominent families are known to be of Chinese ancestry. Among the notable names are Piang, Sinsuat, Matalam and Mastura. Among the Tausug of Sulu are several with Chinese surnames, among them, the Tans. All this indicates the Chinese trader's assimilation into the Moro society.

Inter-cultural absorption by peoples of differing cultural orientations is not only possible, it exists, and does so in Mindanao to this day.

Most of Manila, however, does not see this. I have always wondered what it is about Manila that makes many of her people so ignorant, so rudely informed of Filipino culture elsewhere. This is certainly one area where Manila, to my mind, has become so provincial and unsophisticated in its outlook, even while it assumes to be the epitome of Filipino cosmopolitan urbanity. The worst thing is when it drives the rest of the nation to believe and behave with this mind-set, thus in a subtle way imposing a kind of hegemony that impedes nation-building.

But lately Manila has not been so subtle. It might not be too late yet to add to the chorus of voices on the controversial Muslim "mosque" that the Ortigas scions have decided to put up at Greenhills. I am deliberately enclosing the term "mosque," in quotation marks because we know that what is being built is not even a mosque but a prayer room to replace the old one that has been there for the past 10 years.

Listening to the pro and con arguments on Manila television, I don't know if the opposers wanted to put themselves to shame. Some of them are purportedly highly educated, one is even a well-known media practitioner, a columnist and newspaper publisher, at that. All their arguments -- about violence erupting in Greenhills, about business establishments going into a slump -- were outright laughable. As that publisher is wont to say: Susmariosep!

Unfortunately, cultural discrimination is not a laughing matter. The people who oppose the "mosque" are not just making a mountain out of a molehill, they are bigots plain and simple. No, Filipino society should not submit to their warped and narrow outlooks. And the better our nation will be without them. Bigots have no place in a civilized world, let alone a world that has become more open to cultural realities. I am reminded of Mahatma Gandhi who was approached at one time by a Hindu man who, with fire in his eyes, told the Mahatma that he had just killed a Muslim boy. And to which the Mahatma answered: Go and find a Muslim boy who has been orphaned by this strife. Bring him into your home. But be sure to raise him up as a good Muslim.

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In the next few days, a new journal on Mindanao cultural scholarship will be launched. It will adopt the name "MINDAyawan Journal of Culture and Society," and it will be a flagship publication of Capitol University. The spelling and casing are deliberate. The name is actually coined from the Mindanao and Maranao word "dayawan" --spread of fame. Therein lies the journey that MINDAyawan wishes to make-to promote and make known the diversity of Mindanao society and culture. It will be a forum for the exchange of ideas about Mindanao-of contentions and negotiations, of dissent and dissonance, of hopes and assertions -- not just ideas from Mindanao-based writers but also ideas that have a bearing on the Mindanao people. In short, a journal that promotes a scholarly discussion of Mindanao -- hopefully to help educate the bigots out there.

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