Philippines Hopes Malaysia Will Continue to Hold Muslim Leader : Rebel Captured, but Manila Uneasy
International Herald Tribune
November 26, 2001
Don Kirk

The Philippines' best-known Muslim leader has been captured on a Malaysian island and now threatens to become as much a problem in captivity as he was as a rebel on the run.

The question is where he will become that problem: The leaders of the Philippines and Malaysia indicate they prefer that the rebel, Nur Misuari, remain away from their shores.

Mr. Misuari was seized in Malaysia on Saturday as more than 6,000 Philippine soldiers roamed his island stronghold, Jolo. He instigated a revolt on the island last week in which more 100 people were killed.

But he had fled Jolo by boat, going down the Sulu Island chain that extends to the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo, after ordering his followers to attack Philippine government posts in Jolo.

Officials in Manila feared that Mr. Misuari, as a prisoner, could regain his hero status and again rally the Philippines' Muslim minority around him.

The dangers rose as the authorities sought to prevent unrest during elections Monday for a successor to Mr. Misuari as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a collection of five provinces in the southern Philippines where the government has long dreamed of providing a degree of self-rule for Muslims within the Philippine national framework.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines — who cut short a visit to the United States and Mexico to deal with Mr. Misuari's revolt — and Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia were in agreement on the need to keep Mr. Misuari in prison, but preferably in the other's country.

Mrs. Arroyo, predicting that the Malaysian authorities would take their time in investigating Mr. Misuari, said, "I want him to stay in a Malaysian jail."

The Malaysian authorities, concerned about the impact of his presence on their largely Muslim population, seemed eager, however, to get rid of him with a minimum of legal rigamarole.

"The Philippine government wants him," said Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia's top police official. "We will send him back." Otherwise, he said, Malaysia would be "accused of harboring him or even meddling in the internal affairs of the Philippines."

A cell in a Philippine prison, in the view of many in the Philippine capital, would give Mr. Misuari a pulpit from which to continue to accuse the Philippine authorities of deception, a charge he has made since he promised five years ago to end the revolt by his Moro National Liberation Front.

Mr. Misuari has long accused the government of conniving to drive him from authority over the front — the largest Muslim rebel group — as well as from his post as governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

The government, according to Mr. Misuari, had no intention of abiding by an agreement reached in Tripoli 25 years ago, in which it promised an autonomous Muslim region of 13 provinces and several cities that do not fall under provincial governorship.

Mr. Misuari denounced the election scheduled for Monday as "a sham" in which the government sought to install a sympathetic Muslim leader, Parouk Hussein, while persuading members of the Moro National Liberation Front to turn against him.

A skilled orator with the capability of bringing his followers to their feet in fist-shaking rage, Mr. Misuari is widely acknowledged as having found the day-to-day task of governing a region extremely boring.

"He's like so many revolutionaries who are good at conspiracy and guerrilla warfare," said Francisco Sionil Jose, a noted author of some 20 novels and collections of essays about Philippine life.

"That doesn't work when you have to run a governing structure. What you need are administrators."

For Mrs. Arroyo, one dividend of Mr. Misuari's revolt and arrest has been confirmation of strong relations between the Philippines and Malaysia. Mr. Mahathir rejected a request for asylum for Mr. Misuari, and agreed with the authorities in Manila that he had neglected his duties as governor.

Mr. Misuari and his allies "were seldom in the southern Philippines," said Mr. Mahathir. "They were more often outside the country or in Manila.

"When in power," Mr. Mahathir said, "they did not use their power for the development of the southern Philippines."

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