By John L. Shinn III
LAZT Founder-Editor

Muslim problem is also our problem

  LOS ANGELES --- We at L.A. Zamboanga Times were surpised at the overwhelming inquiries from our readers when we went offline for several weeks. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our readers and supporters for their prayers. If God is on our side then who would like to be our enemy?

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      The military faction of the Arroyo regime think they can fool the people of Region 9 when it comes to the Abu Sayyaf and their criminal kidnaping activies. While I don't want to sound like a Muslim-lover (which I'm not) or a Muslim-hater (which I'm not), I would just like to share my thoughts with our readers on this issue.
      I was 9 years old in December of '69 when a group of young Filipino Muslims led by UP professor Nur Misuari and Hashim Salamat went to Jamphiras Island in Malaysia along with over a hundred other young Muslims to train. Nine months earlier the group had witnessed the Jabiddah Massacre wherein 60 or more young Muslim military recruits were brutally murdered on the island of Corregidor upon the orders of then President Ferdinand Marcos.
     After their military training in Jamphiras, Misuari and his group returned to the Philippines via the Sulu Archipelago and formed the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Thus the Filipino Muslim armed struggle against the often brutal US-supported Philippine government began.
     In 1996, I was in Zamboanga City to cover the peace talks between the MNLF and the administration of Gen. Fidel V. Ramos. I had the chance to interview Misuari (much to the disappointment of the military who tried to stop me from talking to the MNLF chairman that night) at the Garden Orchid hotel.
     In that interview Misuari clarified that the Muslim struggle was not against Christians---as what national newspaper based in Manila have been reporting.
"The (Filipino) Muslim struggle is against the Philippine government---not against Christians," Misuari told me.

Photos by VICTORIA CALAGUIAN (top left) and GENER MARTINEZ (top right and bottom) / L.A. ZAMBOANGA TIMES
TOP LEFT: This was taken in March '96 when I visited the MNLF camp in Indanan, Sulu on the eve of the MNLF's 28th anniversary. TOP RIGHT: This was shot outside the Garden Orchid Hotel in Zamboanga City. With me was Commander Awing (wearing white turban), MNLF chairman Nur Misuari's most trusted lieutenant. BOTTOM: This was taken at the coffee shop of the Garden Orchid Hotel while I was interviewing Chairman Misuari. The military had tried to prevent me from talking to Misuari that night. But I insisted on doing the interview much to their disappointment. 

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MORE TO COME LATER.....