Foreword to Mastura's book Part 1

As promised here is the first part of the Foreword to Datu Mike Mastura's book.

FOREWORD

This is a very important book, written by a very important figure in the long history of the Bangsamoro struggle. It asks many questions and reveals many things about this struggle from the perspective of one who has been involved as an insider, and is still very much in there as an original and current member of the MILF peace panel in the peace talks with the GPH.

The book discusses the core questions behind the struggle of a liberation movement in an identity-based self-determination type conflict. Why it got started; what is the philosophy behind the struggle; who have been involved; what is the current situation; and where is it heading. These are some of the core questions that Datu Michael Mastura focuses on in this book.

The book is titled Bangsamoro Quest: The Birth of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The title is perfect because it reflects a journey or a struggle of a people in search of a destination. It also focuses on the MILF as the vehicle that drives this struggle for the people. If liberation is both the end and the process, then the MILF is the movement that moves this process.

Liberation Movement

How does a liberation movement generally comes about then? Looking at similar situations, the standard answer would involve a number of inter-related factors, which usually starts with the fact that the “affected people” are not happy with the way that they are being treated as a group by the state. There are a number of causes to these grievances that cut across politics, economy, territory, identity, and religious lines. Delving deeper one can probably find that these affected people once belong to a proud nation with a history of self-rule, by their own rulers with normal functioning institutions and practices; that they were then invaded, coerced, or tricked into submission and colonization. As the story goes, there are perceived injustices perpetrated on the affected population, including the takeover of their land through dubious means and oppressive actions by the state or the majority in this asymmetrical relation, in suppressing any demands for change and justice. Lastly, there exist mass supports amongst the affected population for the movement. In some cases there is also support for the movement from kin groups abroad, usually in neighbouring countries. 

Ted Gurr writing his seminal book in 1970 about Why Men Rebel said that “...mass revolutionary and secessionist movements are likely to develop if discontent is widespread and intense among both elite and mass, the result of relative or absolute deteriorations of many conditions of social existence.” (Gurr, 1970: 343).

Two important things to note here is widespread discontent being felt by all and the deteriorations of social existence. The Bangsamoro struggle as explained by Mastura is one that came out of this feeling of widespread discontent. The discontent has to do with the fact that the Bangsamoro people felt that their once proud nation had been overran by a series of invaders which included the Spanish, the Americans, and lastly the Filipinos. These waves of invasions and dominations have contributed to the deterioration of their social existence, and as a consequence, they have lost control of their right to determine for themselves the direction of their own destiny.

As mentioned by Mastura in this book, the late Chair Salamat Hashim, in a letter to President Bush put forward “a realist argument that MILF is a national liberation organization with leadership supported by the people and with legitimate political goal to pursue the right of the Moro nation to its political status.” (Mastura, 2011: 88) This “political status” is something that the current GPH-MILF peace process is trying to figure out.

The MILF is involved in a revolutionary war. Mastura quoted current MILF Chair Ebrahim Al Haj Murad who says that “a revolutionary war is the ability to sustain a protracted struggle,” explaining that “self-reliance means every group to each its own to care for; each one is mujahid.”  (Mastura, 2011: 80) To Mastura, this is the “galvanizing ideology” for the “people’s war” in Mindanao. The MILF has been able to survive and flourish because of the commitment of the people under this mujahid mentality, which also provides them with legitimization for the struggle. This legitimization is an important source of power and legitimacy for the MILF. Mastura also discusses at length about Islam as a source of motivation for the struggle of the MILF. But rather than it being part of a regional or global pan-Islamic movement, it is really a home-grown struggle driven by what Hashim called a “national liberation organization” to correct past injustices to the Bangsamoro people.

The MILF has no qualm about turning this revolutionary war into an armed conflict.  That they have acted violently as a reaction against their perceived enemies and invaders is deemed normal under this revolutionary war circumstance. Adam Curle noted that this is part of the process of pushing for change – of transforming a perceived unbalanced situation. It involves a process of “conscientization” and of “confrontation” before a balanced peaceful situation can be achieved (Curle, 1971). Understandably, depending on the context, change can be a source of conflict or it can be a means of resolving conflict. In situations where a dominant group or elite is entrenched in power, any efforts to bring about a change can be seen as threat to their position and authority. However, it is also possible that any change which addresses the causes of conflict, and which is agreed and implemented through a consultative and inclusive process, could help to reduce levels of conflict and violence.

Expectations and Relative Deprivation

The level of violence perpetrated during this “confrontation” period can be determined from the extent of popular support for the cause, both internal and external, and what Gurr called the “intensity and scope of relative deprivation among members of a collectivity” (Gurr, 1970:  24). Gurr defines “relative deprivation” as “actors’ perception of discrepancy between their value expectations and their value capabilities. Value expectations are the goods and conditions they think they are capable of getting and keeping,” with values being the desired events, objects, and conditions for which the group is striving for.

Simply put, value expectations are conditions that they feel they are justifiably entitled to; or conditions that they have lost and now wanting back; or territories that they have lost and now wanting back; or power that they have lost and also now wanting back. And all the while and for everything, the expectation is that they are justifiably entitled to all these, since these were forcibly taken from them. Their action then is to address these past injustices, and to be compensated for that. Value expectations also refer to both present and future conditions, as they expect to keep not only what they have, but also have a set of expectations and demands about what they should have in the future, which is usually as much or more than what they have at present.

Relative deprivation is also connected to value capabilities, or the value position members of the group perceive themselves capable of attaining or maintaining. “Value capabilities also have both present and future connotations. In the present, value capabilities are represented by what men have actually been able to attain or have been provided by their environment: their value position. In the future, value capabilities are what men believe their skills, their fellows, and their rulers will, in the course of time, permit them to keep or attain: their value potential.” (Gurr, 1970: 25)

Understanding these relative deprivation and the connections that it has to values deemed important to the aggrieved group is crucial in addressing their concerns. Gurr concluded that, “…if men fight to preserve what they have, concessions that remove the threat to it are sufficient. If they rebel to satisfy new or intensified expectations, the only effective concession is to provide them with means adequate to these expectations.” (Gurr, 1970: 359) (italics added)

Expectations and Peace

What does this mean then for those attempting to transform and resolve this type of conflict? A good starting point is to answer the following questions usually put forward to address issues of self determination – how to satisfy demands for, and resistance to, autonomy, self determination and separation; and how to accommodate the needs of the minorities, and the insecurities of the majorities, in deeply divided societies. Basically asking first what is it that the actors want and if that is really what they and the people they represent want; second, what effect does this demand has on others sharing the same space; and third, finding a formula that will satisfy this demand while at the same time making sure the needs and interests of others affected by this decision is not jeopardized.

The previous discussion talked about expectations and means to satisfy these expectations. Can it be assumed that the expectation for the Bangsamoro people is for self-determination and that the comprehensive compact that is currently being debated by the parties can create a new political arrangement for the Bangsamoro people to achieve this expectation? Or that the expectation is to reduce relative deprivations being faced by the Bangsamoro people through years of neglect and mismanagement by allowing their present and future value capabilities to fulfill or reach their value potentials? Reading from Mastura in this book, the answer would be a resounding yes to both questions.

The former Prime Minister of the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM or Free Aceh Movement) once told this author, after they signed a peace agreement with the Indonesian government, that all GAM ever wanted from their struggle was “peace, justice, and dignity” for the Acehnese people. They started their armed struggle against the Indonesian government because of this and they ended this struggle because they feel that they can get want and need through negotiation. GAM signed a peace agreement with the Indonesian government in August 2005 that ended the conflict. They eventually gave up their weapons, disbanded the GAM, and transformed themselves into a political party in Aceh. All because they now feel that “peace, justice, and dignity” is within their reach (some of them would even say, have been achieved). Another almost similar case is Southern Thailand, where there has been a long-running self-determination struggle involving the Malay-Muslims or Patanis demanding independence from the Thai state. There is no “legitimate” peace process of any kind in this conflict  as yet. In regards to “peace”, a senior member of the Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) told the author recently that what they want is “resolution of the conflict, not peace”. This is interesting as to them peace does not necessarily equate to the resolution of the conflict. This is probably due to the fact that past peace initiatives made by the Thai state have not addressed the issues as seen by them, nor have they felt that their grievances have been properly addressed through these one-sided peace initiatives. The point from these two cases is that each liberation movements make their own goals and chart their own courses, to reach their own destinies. The same can be said about the MILF, whom I believe is committed to the notion of “peace, justice, and dignity” and to resolving the Bangsamoro issue.

Mastura also made a point in this book that the “MILF in its comprehensive compact draft aspires for separate national identity, as Bangsamoro, while retaining their Filipino citizenship.  Closer to homeland, state is a justificatory concept (political) hence contested in meaning on the question of Bangsamoro identity and status. “(Mastura, 2011: 134). This then is the expectation of the MILF with the sub-state formula being proposed as the means that can help achieve this expectation and resolve the conflict.