Stop the Violence in Sabah

I am saddened by the fact that those who have the most responsibility to mitigate with reason and words the entire width and breadth of this conflict have fallen short of it, allowing it to gain from our nations the initiative we have initially possessed.

For it now stares us in the face like a bottomless, shapeless, undefined thirst.

Both the Philippine and Malaysian governments have a responsibility now to regain this initiative and stop the violence in Sabah: Is peace not thy sworn duty to uphold before thy nations?

Peace left undefended slips easily away. But peace defended to excess turns to ashes.

Stop the violence in Sabah in order to pave the way for the creation of the necessary conditions that would decisively favor negotiations that does not - and no longer will - involve bloodshed.

This is what is important now -



Stop the violence in Sabah now.

Let us speak out against the violence, violence against Filipinos and Malaysians alike!

Let us be resolute in our clamor that any course of action that involves violence as a means will not work to avail - for any of us - a meaningful, long term solution to the issue at hand, indeed it will only feed the hunger that relentlessly seeks to devour the life and the promise of both our nations.

For peace is the true craft of our nations!
---<--@

Status quo ante in Sabah

With the initiation of hostilities in Sabah, we are now faced with more questions.

But this much is clear to me -

We are now staring down a steep and rocky decline that leads to a deep and dark ravine.

If we are so reckless, if we are not yet wise, we shall find ourselves hurtling out of control with Malaysia, spiraling together down the gravity of war.

We can not go there without undoing much of the present good and therefore, willingly relinquishing from our own midst, much of the promise of our futures together (in and between our nations).

We must tread carefully.

Work hard to recognize the things that remain - that we truly have in common with Malaysia - as the desire to obtain from the Providence of God, a peaceful resolution - and resolve to hold on to these things harder and stronger now in the ensuing darkness and confusion.

Now, when I say we, I will now include all the Filipinos in Sabah especially those of and with the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo - for they are ours. If we leave them - or any one off, if we remain divided in the course, we only strengthen the spirit of war.

For we are not united for the sake of spreading the fires of this unwanted conflict, we are now uniting for the sake of extinguishing it - not by feeding our souls to fan the conflagration - but through a determined and expeditious return to the safety of the high grounds of peace.

For war will exhaust itself - all by itself - if it is not fed.

We have to resolve to turn away from the descendant darkness that is now working hard to engulf us - all of us with Malaysia - and find our way back up to the safety of the ascent where there is still light.

If you can feel the inter-play of this gravity and counter-gravity, of this light and darkness, in your spirit, then let it be known to thy own heart that it is a thing to guide us, God-helping  -

Therefore, our most immediate goal at this present time in Sabah and one that we - at the level of the Republic - should coordinate in common with Malaysia must be a return to the status quo ante.

Status quo ante in Sabah!

Dear President Noy, I am convinced that that is the most immediate way out of this deepening crisis. It is to stop decisively and take a few determined steps back from the brink.

Once we are back there, God-helping - to the status quo ante - let us then work - together this time - to improve the situation - for all - aided by the retrospective advantage of a clearer vision - keeping in mind and heart what the sultan and his men was reported to have said "honor over lives".

For this is key.

We must understand them in their own term - not ours.

We must accept that fact that they can not come back home deprived of honor; that they must be able to come home clothed - at the very least - with what honor they have left our shores with - this is key.

We must choose our words wisely. And be truthful about it.
---<--@

Do not remember the fallen with anger
the darkness they fell to overcome
can only be served by it.

Do not honor their hope with hatred
the victory they have died to realize
can not be won through it.

We can never now visit their memory
in places where they are not remembered
so get away from us now, you darkness

turn away from us now, o sadness 

come back to us now, o soul
return to us now, o heart 
return us back to family
return us back to friendships
return us back to our homelands
return us back to our places of peace
and ever we shall remember
never again to forget.

Salaam. Shalom. Peace. God be with us all.

On the Sabah Issue

Before we make certain our convictions as regards to the Sabah issue, let us examine and reflect on some key points -

The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo - recognition, relevance, restitution.
The Federation of Malaysia - sovereignty, prestige, security.
The Republic of the Philippines - security, good will, credibility.
The ASEAN Neighborhood - unity, commonality of interests, strength of solidarity.

And some constants of the prevailing age - lest we get complacent with the darkness, let us remember where we are in the history of time:

- No peace without adversity - the expectation that with peace comes the challenge and the responsibility to serve, defend, and protect the meaning of its truth as enshrined and remembered in the hearts and halls of our nationhood.

- The 2009 minimum of the times - accept the status quo from 2009 - this includes all present borders, present disputes, present concerns from 2009 and constitutes the end point of the necessary labor of remembrance required by the season from the year of our Lord 0 AD to 2009 AD or the beginning of the new age of peace.

- The hope of the present season - peace, the real one - the one that ascends against all division unto true and everlasting belonging - and not the false one that is emptied out of its meaning by the darkness of the world or the spirit of war.
---<--@

Reflection:

At the level of the Republic government, the Sabah claim is not a claim of sovereignty. It is not like our existing stakes about the Western Philippine Sea.

At the level of the Republic government, the Sabah claim is a claim on the legitimacy of an historic line of royalty that resides within our sphere of responsible government and united among us by Providence in nationhood.

It is therefore, to us - a local issue - not an international issue - the Sabah issue - which we must moderate with Malaysia at the level of her Federation. Malaysia as a nation is not lacking in her own houses of royal lineages and will understand what this recognition means and how important it is.

Just because we are a Republic does not mean that there are no more of these lines that have survived the ravages of the last great age of war; where they survive they have survived to serve.

For Malaysia, this is an international issue. It is a claim only from Malaysia's point of view.

The Sabah claim ceases to be a claim from our Republic point of view but an historic grievance which has now been brought to the fore. It is something we can neither overlook, nor belittle nor abandon all together.

There is a win-win situation here. 

We feel ourselves under attack without attacking each other because we are in the dark about it. So let us together make the conscious choice not remain there but to emerge.

To do justice to every man, is this not part of the code and culture of our executive leadership? Laws bite hard against evil but it is justice to repair the damage done by evil deeds.

Is it evil to air a grievance? Is it not freedom to have and to hear a petition which is authentically human and therefore, visible and legitimate in the eyes of the nations of our world?

None has done this. If we have truly completed our remembrances, we will find that none has done this - no one. No one is to blame who presently exists in any form or way: none but a shadow of things gone by; a deadly illusion of war - for the truth is that it is up to us now to fix it - ever as those nations dreaming together this time.

We have to be willing to be the children of our Father Abraham once more that we may by the grace of God bless the communities of Mankind which are the nations of the children of Mankind.

It is not just a kindness to promote the good, in all truth it is to do justice to goodness and this, especially in the society of man is an act of civic virtue the nature of which can never be legislated for no law can ever be truly written in heaven and on earth to either bind it or prevent what God has placed in the heart of man - love perfecting justice - love in the truth.

This issue will only cease to be an issue - for all of us - for the Royal House of the Sultanate of Sulu, for their brothers spread among the other houses upon the earth, to the Republic of the Philippines, and to the Federation of Malaysia, only when justice is served - not again in partial or unclear terms, not through force of arms, not by anger nor the spirit of revenge - but by justice - one that recognizes and upholds the good - of all and for all - of nations and individuals together.

It might feel like this came at an inopportune time, I felt it too. I felt the suspicion. For my first instinct is to protect our internal peace process.

But at least now we have the initiative to actually do something with the Sabah issue - a boon in the midst of all this difficulty - let us then also recognize that if we overlook this or if we wax undecisive about it - we lose the opportunity.

We must state our position clearly first, and do this singularly from a national interest standpoint - in a way that is conducive to a meaningful and peaceful solution to the matter - privately if necessary - for the benefit of all - but especially on behalf of the Sultanate of Sulu, and in a manner that preserves the gains of our own internal peace process, and then ask them all to come home so it can be further worked out to a conclusion in concert with all concerned parties - officially and without Malaysia feeling untowardly threatened by any perceived intrusion and inadvertently even waxing hostile to our OFW's presently in their territory who only want to earn an honest living and nothing more.

Malaysia as a whole after all has invested time, prestige and treasure in the development of that region even enough perhaps to claim sovereignty rights but we should not abandon the claim of the Sultanate of Sulu and their grievance as regards to it neither must we compromise our friendship with Malaysia - we, the people, as represented by our government in the Republic state, should pray look for a more permanent solution to this pressing old problem to further make complete our present peace - together this time.

Above all, and highest of all - the Sabah issue can not be resolved by force of arms. It would indeed be an incredibly wrong turn of events to allow this to develop into open conflict; even a form of forgetfulness on an unpardonable scale, one that undoes the grace of nationhood.

Let us be patient. Let Malaysia be patient.

For I trust and believe we are better than the challenges that we presently must confront; that our peace together now is stronger and brighter here in the darkness than the darkness itself; that we, ever as our nations, are stronger than the night, this longest night, and therefore, truly belong to the morning and the coming day.

Peace is the test and to pass this test brings succees.

What ennobles is not might but right.
---<--@

Because it is also my personal hope that this issue is soon resolved - peacefully, for all:

Salaam. Shalom. Peace. Mabuhay po tayong lahat!