Noorhouse Blog

 The Slow Move Forward

“One day at a time--this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone ..."

As a Tausug, the past is a defining source of identity and pride. It is no surprise to hear us talking and taking pride about our past and hegemony. Despite of our place these days being labelled as a "no man's land" or "war zone", we pride ourselves of having a centralized government system pre-dating the current Republic by 5oo years.


While Manila and Cebu were backwater villages, Sulu was trading and hobnobbing with Asian and European empires. Our Sultan is accorded an 18-gun salute by the British army in Singapore, a cousin of Brunei royalty, recognized by the Emperor of the Ottoman Empire and did state visits to the Imperial Courts of China. Those who do not understand our sie of history may label as arrogant fools, because of our hesitance to embrace Filipino nationhood. Can you blame us?



So it is hard for us to let go of the past. For the past is something tangible we have that we can be proud of. The past gave us an identity, a dominant place in the history of SE Asia and the prosperity we year today. Take away our past and we are like everyones else ... ordinary people drowned in the Western colonialism and development aggression. Take away our past, you take away our unique identity and the source of our prosperity.


"... And do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come..."


Without bringing with us our past, we are weary of the future. In fact, there are those among us who look at the past as our future. Ironic it may seem but it only our past that gives us an assurance of certainty. We have been there and we were govern through the "rule of law" and all of us shared in the prosperiy of this maritime empire.


Whereas, the brand of future paraded before us is banked on previous empty promises, political manuevering, development aggression and full of militarism as a response to our grievances.


Whereas, the brand of the future dangled before us is a unitary system of governance that do not recognize and value our preferred way of governing ourselves; where democracy is based on drowing our minority views, forcing us to accept the domination of an identity that is partly a product of colonialism; and where the national identity itself exclude the diversity of the peoples it forced to ascend.


Whereas, the brand of future forced on us does not offer us guarrantees of freedom, self-determination and prosperity. A future where we can not even determine our own future, our own system of governance, and our own prosperity, without the risk of being slapped by a constitution designed to assimilate religious and cultural minorities into the mainstream identity and collective psyche.


"... Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering..."

So the challenges for the mainstream society and us today is how to accommodate our cultural minorities. Perhaps, it is time to creative engage in nation-building founded on a tri-national identity that includes the us and the IPs as well.

So the challenges for the mainstream society and us today is how to allow cultural communities like us to govern ourselves in their own homelands, within the framework of a tri-national republic. Afterall, isn't democracy that said, government of the people, by the people and for the people? So why now deny us the same inherent rights?

So the challenges for the mainstream society and us today is how to expand our empathy and compassion - remove the psycho-social and cultural barriers that we have erected to keep us apart.

We need to creatively engaged ourselves at various levels and beyond our politicians and rebel leaders. We need to imagine possibilities for co-existence and eventually shared futures. If we can not imagine these non-violent possibilities, the hawks amongst us are ready to seize the opportunity for war and descruction.

We can no longer afford trekking the blooding path. For it only leave behind pain, suffering and destruction. The same is also true of our inaction and apathy. The step forward maybe slow, but at least we are moving in the right direction.

Today, we can make things happen. A future build on and learning from our past. A future with security and prosperity for all.