One last push for BBL

While browsing my Yahoo mail last Sunday night, one particular news item caught my interest to read the entire story from the link. The news rang an alarm bell about a President of a tiny West African country declaring his country as an “Islamic state.”

The mere mention of the words “Islamic state” though is enough to trigger a second look for the world to check if they heard it right.

When a country openly announces to the world that it is an Islamic state, it sends a chilling effect to the rest of humanity. Islamic State (IS) connotes grim deadly suicide bombing attacks and beheading of people perpetrated by this terror group that has shown no mercy to innocent victims.

Only last November, IS terrorists launched their Friday the 13th rampage that killed 129 people in simultaneous suicide bomb and shooting attacks in a concert hall, sports stadium, restaurants and bars in various tourist-frequented places in Paris, France. Seven of the suicide bombers who were themselves among the fatalities were recognized as IS members.

President Yayah Jammeh of Gambia declared last week his country as an “Islamic state.” The unexpected announcement came as President Jammeh addressed his loyal supporters in the coastal town of Brufut last Dec. 10 and later broadcast on state television and repeated on his website.

“Gambia’s destiny is in the hands of the Almighty Allah. As from today, Gambia is an Islamic state. We will be an Islamic state that will respect the rights of the citizens,” President Jammeh announced on his presidential website.

His address to his people was carried by state-run TV of the Republic of Gambia and picked up by foreign wires that broke the news to the rest of the world. The Gambian president did not go into detail about what the change would mean. But he reassured Christians and followers of other faiths would be able to worship freely under the new Islamic state status of their nation.

The main opposition party felt scorned at the Gambian President’s unexpected proclamation of an Islamic republic for their nation and insisted it had no legal basis.

“President Yahya Jammeh’s pronouncement or declaration is unconstitutional, it has no constitutional basis and... it is an unlawful declaration,” Ousainou Darboe, secretary general of the main opposition United Democratic Party, told Agence France Presse (AFP).

Described as an impoverished former British colony nestled within Senegal, and famed for its white-sand beaches, Gambia has a population of nearly two million, 90 percent of whom are Muslim. Of the remainder, eight percent are Christian and two percent are defined as having indigenous beliefs.

Other than his controversial declaration of Gambia as now an “Islamic state,” what really caught my interest and more of my memory is the fact that I have personally met this president up close and personal. This was during the state visit he made to the Philippines on June 22 to 24, 2005.

His state visit in Manila was upon the personal invitation of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the Asian African Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia they attended together in April 2005. But as early as that time, Gambia was already a member of the influential Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). This was a fact cited by ex-President Arroyo when she hailed the state visit in Manila of the Gambian leader as very opportune for the Philippines in its application bid to attain “observer status” at the OIC meetings.

I was already a news editor of The STAR when I was invited by honorary consul Agnes Huibonhua to conduct an exclusive interview of the visiting Gambian leader at the Manila Hotel where he was billeted at the MacArthur presidential suite as state guest. The sit-down interview was set after the state luncheon banquet hosted in his honor at Malacañang Palace.

But for whatever reason, the Gambian President decided he did not want any media interview. A very apologetic Foreign Minister of Gambia, Musa G. Balagaye offered himself instead for my interview.

Balagaye disclosed the Gambian leader wanted to reciprocate what the Philippines had done for it in 1966 in terms of introducing the “Philippine pink” nut, or the groundnut variety abundantly grown in Gambia. During his talks with Mrs. Arroyo at Malacañang, Jammeh mentioned a Filipino agriculture expert by the name of “Professor Brookes.”

Jammeh credited Brookes as having brought to Gambia this “very popular” peanut export variety described in their country as “Philippine pink.”?The Philippine peanut variety has pink, medium-sized seeds in a two-seeded pod.

The peanut production of Gambia accounts for 80 percent of their country’s gross national product but their economy is supported largely by their tourism industry.

According to him, the two Presidents discussed possible joint oil exploration as a common solution for both oil-dependent countries as a protection for both economies from uncertainties of crude oil in the world market.

“He (Jammeh) is reciprocating by offering one block to the Philippine government either on the basis of their own exploration or joint exploration with the Gambian government,” Balagaye further disclosed. At that time in 2005,?Balagaye revealed the Gambian government extended for one month the period for international bidding on the newly discovered blocks of oil fields.

As to whatever happened to this proposed joint oil exploration deal is something that needs checking with concerned agencies of the Philippines.

President Jammeh is now 50. He is a former military officer and former wrestler from a rural background in Gambia. He has ruled his country with an iron fist since he seized power in a coup in 1994. “He (Jammeh) cultivates the image of a practising Muslim, and is often seen holding a Koran or prayer beads, and of promoting an aura of mysticism,” the AFP noted.

The AFP further reported Human Rights Watch this year branded Jammeh’s regime one of the most repressive in the world, blaming paramilitaries and secret police for torture, disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

The Human Rights Watch group also denounces the Philippines with same criticisms although we live in a democracy. Unlike Gambia though, we’re not an Islamic state. Not even one last push by President Aquino for Congress to approve into law the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law could turn the Philippines into one.