Indonesia urged to show more support for Moro rebels
JAKARTA (JP): Two hundred Moslem students discussed the plight of the secessionist Moro front in the southern Philippines here on Saturday and decided to display more "solidarity" toward the cause.
Political scientists Syamsu Mardam and Burhan Magenda, and observers Fathudin Ja'far and Suryadharma extensively examined the "oppression" of the Moro.
They agreed that Indonesia, at least its Moslems, should lend more support to make up for "political neglect" by other countries.
"This discussion is not held in protest over the seminar on the East Timor question in Manila recently," a representative of the STEKPI College of Economics, which hosted the one-day seminar, explained. Last month's East Timor seminar gave rise to a great deal of controversy in Indonesia and abroad.
Solutions
The discussion over the weekend examined the Indonesian government's stance on the Moro issue and evaluated a number of possible solutions to the problem.
Suryadharma pointed out that by calculation, the Moro Moslem minority in the southern Mindanao islands of the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, has sustained the longest struggle ever for independence.
The people began their rebellion in 1571 against Spanish colonialism. The struggle proceeded against America in the early 1900s, against Japan in the 1940s, and finally against the government of the Republic of Philippines, he said.
"The front, however, has not enjoyed substantial political and military support from their own Malay ethnic groups, or from Moslem countries," Suryadharma said.
He pointed out that Kashmiri Moslems in India have the support of Pakistan, Palestine had support from the Arab countries, and Bosnia from other Moslem communities.
Non-intervention
Burhan, a staff lecturer at the University of Indonesia, and Syamsu, from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), were more inclined to support the Indonesian government's "non- intervention" stance on the issue.
"(Moro) is the Philippines' internal affair," according to Burhan, who is also a member of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
"I don't see the possibility of our government lending more support than it has done already," Syamsu said.
Fathudin, on the other hand, believed that because Moro's secessionist struggle is a regional problem, and an ideological issue as well, predominantly-Moslem Indonesia should extend stronger support.
Indonesia last year hosted two meetings between Manila and Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in order to help the disputing parties pursue outstanding issues from an accord reached in 1976 in Tripoli, Libya.
However, Indonesia made clear that it would not be an intermediary in the dispute which began with the Moslems' armed rebellion in the 1970s. The rebellion had killed more than 50,000 people prior to a fragile 1986 cease-fire. Relatively minor armed conflicts have continued and inflicted casualties in both sides.
Obstacles
The peace process between Manila and MNLF, which demands a separate Islamic state for some five million Moslems, was initiated by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The Tripoli accord itself laid down the framework for a peaceful solution to the Moro problem, providing autonomy in the southern Philippines, but within the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines.
Suryadharma identified a number of obstacles for Moro in pursuing autonomy, including friction within itself and the lack of political support for Misuari from the grassroots.
"Many Moro Moslems think Misuari has not been faithful to the mission and has used the front to further his own interests," Suryadharma alleged. (swe)