Nobody loves Nur because that spoiled ‘reb’ only loves himself

Let’s cut out the cutesy talk. President Macapagal-Arroyo should directly request Malaysia’s Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to keep the captured trouble-monger Nur Misuari, "on ice" in a Malaysian jail while the elections, ballot-counting and tabulation are going on in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

Dr. Mahathir should help us out on this one – please.

Nur Misuari is a pipsqueak, boca grande, braggart, and goof-off. He did nothing for ARMM when he was strutting around as governor (a gift from former President Fidel V. Ramos). His own ARMM provincial governors kept asking plaintively, finally indignantly: "Where did the money go?"

Misuari was even worse than a poor governor. He was a "No Show." It seems he spent more time traveling overseas first class visiting foreign capitals and enjoying the cachet of having been an "Islamic Revolutionary" and wow! a Mujahideen Pinoy-style. His home province of Sulu saw no improvement, neither Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, or Lanao del Sur. I’m amazed that two other sectors joined the ARMM in the last referendum, namely Basilan (which is half Christian, mind you, despite the depredations of the Abu Sayyaf) and Marawi City – but I suspect they did so believing Misuari’s rule was coming to an end.

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When he saw his power ebbing, with yesterday’s ARMM elections (wonder how they went?) their supposed death knell, he snarled, "I am the power!" then unleashed his Moro National Liberation Front followers against several Army outposts. The attacks failed, but caused much bloodshed. Nur fled with his tail between his legs – and was nabbed by the Malaysians while trying to sneak into Sabah or Labuan.

In the old days, Malaysia was always a "safe haven" for Misuari. Now, it’s clear that even his former friends have grown so disgusted with his antics that they arrested him instead of offering him the usual asylum.

Why should GMA keep Misuari out while the polls are being conducted? Because she ought to be afraid of what he can do. I don’t mean he’ll be able to raise a revolt. He’s a spent force, despised by even Hashim Salamat and the more aggressive Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and barely tolerated by the victorious Abu Sayyaf Group since they need his cooperation. In fact, the Abus and the MNLF are practically one and the same organization, the former disguised in sheep’s clothing (since they made "peace" with FVR in 1995). I’ve always called this the "phoney peace." But ex-President Ramos – although he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize – keeps on insisting he had brought peace to Mindanao by this virtual surrender to Misuari.

A peace of the brave? More likely, something like timid English Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s sell-out to Adolf Hitler in Munich which he airily dubbed, "Peace in our time . . ." Not long after that, the Nazi Luftwaffe was blitzing London.

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We ought to fear Misuari because he has money. Our tax money. The estimate is that the Philippine government gave more than P30 BILLION to him. To keep him "happy" and not rebellious? What a price to pay! First he was made Chairman of the multibillion-peso Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA). Then, sponsored by FVR and his administration, the governorship of ARMM was handed to him on a silver platter. Those billions of pesos given ARMM for the upliftment of our Muslim citizens from centuries of poverty, ignorance and "warlord" control went to naught. They are as poor as before – and, deplorably, as products of their religious schools and charities (à la Taliban), they hate us Christians as the infidel and "imperial Manila" as the oppressor.

As long as Moros of the umma are taught to hate Christians and treat us with suspicion, anger, resentment and contempt, we’ll never be able to make peace with them. They’ll approve peace treaties, time and again, only to break them when the time is ripe. Thus we suffered Misuari’s short-lived revolt, born of his conceit and Napoleonic complex.

What did we expect from a drugstore dictator who swaggers around with 100 to 200 bodyguards? Who would murder Misuari? He’s a danger only to himself.

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Although he spent right and left for himself and his own "glory", Misuari must have a great deal of cash left. And this is a land where money talks. (Money talks everywhere, of course, but here in our smiling, happy nation, it has a louder voice than usual.)

With money, Misuari could "influence" the elections. Remember, he’s got guns, goons and gold, the three Gs of political longevity. He can suborn teachers (if he hasn’t already terrified them), poll inspectors, in fact even buy his way up the higher ranks of our Commission on Elections, since some Commissioners have shown a distinct sympathy towards self-aggrandizement. He can intimidate rivals.

Another cause for grave concern, and I angrily warned the government against it at the time, is that sorry part of the stupid peace deal which approved the "integration" of thousands of Misuari’s MNLF cadres into the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police. How would you feel as a soldier if the Moro who was only lately shooting at you is now constantly at your elbow, wearing the same uniform, given high-powered weapons and ammunition at the expense of the government? Today, every man has to watch his back, not just scan the terrain ahead for the enemy. That can’t make the Army and PNP more efficient and self-confident. With last Monday’s Misuari revolt with 100 dead, they’re obviously looking askance at the "former" MNLF in their midst, who’re surely doing the same thing to them.

How can we ever undo this dreadful mistake? We may in the weeks to come find many a soldier or trooper with a bullet in his back. Will the integrated MNLF cadres remain loyal? Anybody who’s lived on the wild frontier in Mindanao can answer that question without hesitation.

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In yesterday’s International Herald Tribune there was an interesting report by Don Kirk, Manila-based correspondent, headlined: "REBEL CAPTURED; BUT MANILA UNEASY." The subhead said accurately enough: "Philippines Hopes Malaysia Will continue to Hold Muslim Leader."

What’s somewhat alarming is a quotation halfway down the piece. In Kirk’s preamble, he discloses that "the Malaysian authorities, concerned about the impact of his presence on their largely Muslim population, seemed eager, however, to get rid of him with a minimum of legal rigmarole."

" ‘The Philippine government wants him,’ said Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia’s top police official, ‘We will send him back.’

Otherwise, he said, Malaysia would be "accused of harboring him or even meddling in the internal affairs of the Philippines." How sarcastic can you get? Has Malaysia meddled in our internal affairs in the past? Harbored Misuari and even the training camps of his rebel forces? You bet.

What Abdullah just said, however, is bullshit. He knows quite clearly that we don’t want Misuari back at this time. They can hand him back to us – later – if they wish. But he violated Malaysian law by entering their territory illegally. That should be incentive enough for Chief Abdullah to detain him.

The trouble is that Dr. Mahathir’s ruling Barisan coalition is being threatened by the political ascendance of that militant Pan-Islamic party, PAS, which has its stronghold in Kelantan. To reaffirm his Muslim bona fides, the usually more tolerant Mahathir has been speaking like a Jihad-warrior or Mujahideen himself. At the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Brunei lately, he condemned the American bombing of Afghanistan and the Taliban.

If Dr. Mahathir does us the favor of holding that wiseguy Misuari while we get the mess he made in the ARMM sorted out, we will owe him big time. If he doesn’t, thanks anyway. We may simply have to resort to dumping Nur in the Sulu Sea and tell him to swim for his life. If he makes it to shore, who knows? His own Taosug enemies might be waiting for him.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . The US has been landing US Marines at an airbase near Kandahar, the last powerful Taliban stronghold and home base of the Taliban’s cruel leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar (son-in-law of Osama bin Laden.) About 1,500 Marines have been ferried, along with their equipment by helicopter. This is a dramatic signal America intends to get in that war, and no ifs or buts about it. Nobody who didn’t visit Ground Zero in New York can understand the pain of the tragic attack on the innocent 5,000 in the Twin Towers. Never in history were Americans so traumatized and felt such vulnerability in their homeland. This is why, though much of the world cavils, American bombers and warplanes are pounding the al-Quaeda terrorist fighters of bin Laden and his protectors, the Taliban, with such ferocity. John F. Kennedy sent a message to friend and foe in his inaugural address. The US is sending a message here. Iran next? The world may again howl, but I wouldn’t be surprised. This is a time when Americans say: "The hell with it!"