Lost amid all the hoopla in the run-up to the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight was a development nobody hardly gave a second look. But it was a development that can have very serious implications and unless the government handles it very carefully, that is if it finally comes around to even noticing it, it has the potential to blow up in all of our faces.
That development, both unexpected and unprecedented, involved a protest action by a small group of Muslims, not in Mindanao but right in the heart of Manila, openly protesting the death and disposition of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. It was the first time that Muslims engaged themselves in such a provocative act away from their heartland.
What most people have observed about Muslims in places other than Mindanao is that they are not assertive. They keep to themselves, keeping to the background and careful not to attract attention to themselves. Often they put up a public front of being cooperative. If they can avoid getting into trouble, they will.
But shortly after the death of bin Laden, a small group of Muslims emerged out of the woodwork and marched through the streets of Manila and tried to go to the US Embassy before they were stopped and turned back by a phalanx of riot police. No untoward incident happened, and maybe that was why nobody, including the government, paid the incident any mind after that.
But the real reason why no trouble ensued was because causing trouble was farthest from the minds of the Muslims in Manila. That was not what they hoped to achieve with their protests. Their protest through the streets of Manila was, more than anything else, a test, a trial balloon. It was an introductory appearance.
That they protested against what they called the “unIslamic” disposal of bin Laden’s body was just a front for a motive that is as yet unclear to most people. Had they wanted to merely protest, a press conference or a flood of letters to the editor would have sufficed. Unless something really serious was up, they would not have broken years of laid-back traditions in Manila, not even for bin Laden.
So something has to be up, and up seriously. The smallness of the protesting Muslim group’s number is no reason for complacency. In fact the smallness was surprising, given the stated reason for the march. If they truly felt strongly about it, they would have come out in greater numbers. Instead the small number was deliberate. It was a calculated risk. The seeds have been planted.