Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Maxey: Abu Sayyaf a spent force By Ram Maxey Bar None
SINCE August 2006, the AFP's Task Force Comet has steadily driven the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) from its strongholds and areas of operation. The 8,000 troops have bottled up the bandit group in the Sulu archipelago.
ASG's charismatic leaders, Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Solaiman, were killed in September 2006 and January 2007 respectively. The extremist group has been fractured into smaller groups run by the sub-leaders, now under the command of the new emir, Radulan Sahiron.
The elderly, one-armed Radulan has spent his life and lost his son in the pursuit of an independent Moro homeland in Mindanao and has every reason to be proud of his own efforts. Nobody can doubt his dedication to the Moro cause, and to that extent, he deserves credit.
Prior to his death, Radulan's son, Ismin, made this statement to the commander of the Philippine Marines engaged in the battle in Jolo: "We have an ideology that we are fighting for. I'm sorry, we really want to establish an Islamic state," he said. "My father will die here in Patikul (a Jolo area) fighting. It's either you get out of Sulu, or my father dies here."
Obviously, the government has no intention of giving up the campaign against the ASG nor cede a big part of the nation to the extremist group. Right now, the old warrior is wondering how to salvage his group and still gain something for his people. He is aware that the MILF is engaged in negotiations with the government under cover of a ceasefire and is making headway toward signing a treaty that will bring some form of self-determination to Muslim communities in the south of the country.
To Moslims, it reflects the government's greatly renewed confidence in its handling of the secessionist problem even as it also reflects patience, dedication and perseverance on the part of the MILF's leaders.
The government's civic action program, providing the basic needs for people in the country's poorest regions, has made considerable gains against the long-standing Muslim mistrust toward the government. Muslins have every reason to believe the peace process will go forward, and a historic deal will be completed.
That will render the ASG irrelevant and will provide Muslims an answer to their frustrated dreams of a homeland in Mindanao. While MILF leaders may yet go down in history as saviors, Radulan Sahiron will certainly go down as the greatest failure in ASG's history. He must do something fast to save his movement and contribute more to Muslim dreams than more rebel corpses.
Lately, the old warrior has been making overtures to the central government about peace talks of his own and has offered up an interesting bait: the two Jemaah Islamiyah "advisors" he inherited from ASG's deceased leaders. The JI advisors are Umar Patek and Dulmatin who are wanted for the 2002 Bali bombing in Indonesia and for other terroristic acts. Dulmatin is a Malaysian engineer with a US$10-million bounty on his head, and Patek is an Indonesian explosives expert and trainer who carries a US$1-million bounty.
Both have been known to look with condescension on the ASG and had immediately set about trying to turn Abu Sayyaf members into "True Islamic Warriors," something old Radulan finds irritating, given his own sacrifices over the years.
Dulmatin and Patek have brought considerable woe to the ASG.
Radulan has resented the fact that the arrogant duo has caused his movement so much trouble and bloodshed including the sacrifice of his own son. This time, however, he may have found a way out, if only the government is willing to offer him some leniency. The stakes for the government are high, but even higher for Radulan Sahiron and the Abu Sayyaf group.
