As an interested observer to the Philippines and its problems with the MLF and other disinfranchised Muslims in Mindano I wonder if we could talk about the best way to end this violence and senseless killings on BOTH sides. I think GMA has to try to establish some sort of dialog with these people and make them feel like they are part of the political process. Leaders of the military have to establish a cease fire and have outside people like the Malasians observe that neither side violates it. Then the goverment should try to seriously make the Muslims a part of the Philippines economy by investing in the infrastructure of that region and bringing Muslims into the govermant so they are well represented at the hogher levels of goverment. So what are other options that might work? Any and all comments are appreciated even if someone says " your a foreigner and don't understand the situation here" Maybe I don't but I just want the bloodshed to stop.

larryberry wrote:

QUOTE:
As an interested observer to the Philippines and its problems with the MLF and other disinfranchised Muslims in Mindano I wonder if we could talk about the best way to end this violence and senseless killings on BOTH sides. I think GMA has to try to establish some sort of dialog with these people and make them feel like they are part of the political process. Leaders of the military have to establish a cease fire and have outside people like the Malasians observe that neither side violates it. Then the goverment should try to seriously make the Muslims a part of the Philippines economy by investing in the infrastructure of that region and bringing Muslims into the govermant so they are well represented at the hogher levels of goverment. So what are other options that might work? Any and all comments are appreciated even if someone says " your a foreigner and don't understand the situation here" Maybe I don't but I just want the bloodshed to stop.

hi larry

thanks for joining this topic, hope we can both trigger others to come.. i am still hoping and expecting fellow filipinos to come and exchange views here not to mention the fact there are several filipinos who joined AO, and i know most of them are net bugs like me

for the sake of discussions, i would leave a view which hopefully would invite them and others to comment, and later
give the facts and links to the premise i will say:

the foreign aid, and military trainings and equipments
given to the philippines have been more of a trade
which some others claim was deliberately done by the philippine government for financial interest to benefit
the politicians at the expense of marines and soldiers killed in the south where muslim rebels are considered minority..

hope comments will pour in..

As general Aidid said, "there can be no peace unless there is victory!"

this is how things are settle since the beginning of time...

Some TRIED to do it through negotiations... but looking at history... peace cannot be achieve this way and has never been... Man will always need to have to look for victory in battle...

Please don't get me wrong... I am not advocating war and violence... I am just stating something that has been going on for thousands of years...

that is, "there can be no peace unless there is victory!"

You know what linsi, I really doubt if this is true.

Do you know that General Santos City is only 30-45 minutes away (by boat) from Indonesia?

As you may know Indonesia is still predominantly a Muslim nation and for sure their geographical location is a strategic location for their ARab Leaders to spread terror in Asia.

With the close proximity of General Santos to Indonesia, and also the physical similarity of Indonesians and Pinoys, even our language has some similiraties..it is easy to confuse FIlipino and Indonesian boats men and even the weapon wielding terrorists..

Indonesia is also an archiepelago, made up of thousands of islands (greater in number than the number of islands in the Philippines). What it means is that they surely have more serious security issues than us and therefore Indonesians are free to travel by sea to their closest and most vulnerable neighbor --- the Philippines.

I also do not think, Pinoys are that sophisticated to be able to lead a terror attack unless the Arab leaders are behind it...and knowing that we are not really predominantly Muslim country the Arab influence will not be as strong as it is in Indonesia.

I am not trying to finger point here..but pointing to the Philippines as the terrorism hotspot may not be entirely true..

it just so happened that Philippine Media is free to write or spread news about terrorism compared to Indonesia...

we are getting too much attention because of our own country men's sheer love for sensational news while ignoring the fact that it is leaving a lasting impression to other nations. We may have less serious terrorism issues than Singapore because we do not have much tourist appeal anymore. Its just that the news being announced to the world is exaggerated and sensationalized,which allows or TV newsmen to earn big bucks.

Whereas, Indonesia's lack of freedom of the press, actually protects them from prying eyes. They keep their dirty laundry under covers.

larryberry wrote:

QUOTE:
As an interested observer to the Philippines and its problems with the MLF and other disinfranchised Muslims in Mindano I wonder if we could talk about the best way to end this violence and senseless killings on BOTH sides. I think GMA has to try to establish some sort of dialog with these people and make them feel like they are part of the political process. Leaders of the military have to establish a cease fire and have outside people like the Malasians observe that neither side violates it. Then the goverment should try to seriously make the Muslims a part of the Philippines economy by investing in the infrastructure of that region and bringing Muslims into the govermant so they are well represented at the hogher levels of goverment. So what are other options that might work? Any and all comments are appreciated even if someone says " your a foreigner and don't understand the situation here" Maybe I don't but I just want the bloodshed to stop.

larryberyy,

please excuse me because i may need to disagree with your points here. I think there might be a confusion and that terrorism is always associated with the Muslim religion.

In Singapore, the Muslims express their total disgrace for terrorism. They also know that the people behind these terrorist attacks are hiding behind the guise of holy wars to spread fear around the world.

In that same perspective, I guess the MLF you are referring to is not the same MLF group 10-15 years ago who is mainly fighting for autonomy. I guess you know that there factions or groups within this group are more inline with terrorism rather than just requesting for autonomy. They are being funded by Al-Queda (which does not really fight holy war) -- what do you think the Al-Qaeda have to do with Muslims in the Philippines fighting for their autonomy, what stake do they have with it?

I think we all are getting confused because the media always associates the AL-Qaeda with the MLF, which I think is totally unfounded..

when Singapore fought for autonomy from Malaysia, they did not have to ask for support from the Al- Qaeda did'nt they?

I hope you get the point. Our domestic issue (Muslims requesting for autonomy) is only a small dot in the whole issue of terrorism around the world. Its totally overrated and being taken advantage of not only by Al Qaeda but also by America.

It is sad to say thought, that despite the fact that there are a lot of nice American citizens, America is the largets supplier of weapons, and they guise this in the form of aids. Aids which in the future they would ask for pay back in other forms.

They are playing fire with fire. Putting SOuth and North Korea at war with each other in the same way it has put Iran and Irag at war with each other, so they can supply arms to both sides.

Isn't it the same story being repeated here??



T<br><br>Post edited by: Lanie, at: 2007/09/04 17:49

In december 2001, 15 Muslim Singaporians have been arrested, belonging to Jammah Islamiyah as they were preparing attacks again US, GB, Austalians and others countries buildings or planes in Singapore