This Book Written by Thomas M

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McKenna, T. Muslim Rulers and Rebels. Manila. Anvil Publishing Inc, 1998.

This book written by Thomas M. Mckenna is a book that discusses about the

everyday politics and armed separatism in the Southern Philippines. The first chapter of

the book tackles the extraordinary and everyday politics in the Muslim Philippines. The

book aims to investigate the meanings and motivations of one such struggle, the

movement for Muslim separatism in the Philippines. It traces the development of a

Muslim nationalist identity in the Philippines, the origins of the Muslim insurgency

against the Philippine republic, and the mobilization of popular support for the separatist

movement in both its armed and unarmed phases. There are approximately 3 million

Muslims in the Philippines, the only majority Christian country in Southeast Asia.

Muslims are geographically concentrated in the south of the country. The modern

movement for Muslim separatism originated among a small set of Philippine Muslim

students and intellectual in the late 1960s and it gained popular support after the

eruption of sectarian violence in Cotabato in 1970. Muslim separatist rebels fought the

Philippine military to a stalemate, obliging the Philippine government to negotiate a

cease-fire and peace treaty in 1977. Muslim civilians supported the insurgents and

suffered cruelly in the hands of the Philippine Military.

The second chapter discusses the People and Territory in Cotabato. Cotabato is

the term used to refer the entire south-western quadrant of Mindanao, which is divided

into roughly half lowland and half upland areas. The term Cotabato is a hispanicized

version of the Magindanaon Kuta Wato, or fort of stone. The name Cotabato was


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taken from an actual stone fort that stood on Tantawan Hill in the middle of present-day

Cotabato City. The indigenous inhabitants of the Cotabato basin are divided into 3

principal language groups. The largest indigenous group is the Magindanaon. For most

of the recorded past they have also been the politically dominant population. The

second group are the Iranuns, describe as skilled and fiercely independent sea raiders

living along the Eastern shore of Illana Bay. Most Iranun continue to reside along the

Eastern shore of Ilana Bay, although some have also long inhabited the hill country

lying between the coast and the southern edge of the Lanao Plataeu. The Iranun share

with their neighbours the profession of Islam, as well as a number of cultural institutions.

The third group are the Tirurays, they are non-Muslim upland horticulturalists who

inhabit the northern portion of the highlands. For centuries the Tirurays have maintained

significant trade relations with the Magindanaon communities in the lowlands. Today

they are divided approximately in half between those more accessible communities that

have been drawn into plow agriculture and all its attendant sociocultural

transformations, and those communities of still traditional people in the remote forests of

the Tiruray highlands.

Chapter 3 discusses the establishment of Islamic rule in Cotabato. There are two

origin myths animate Muslim nationalist politics in Cotabato. The first is an ancient myth

that explains social disparity among Cotabato Muslims by sanctifying it. The second

myth is about ancient origins. The myth of Morohood is shared well by Muslim

nationalists throughout Philippines and states that a transcendent Philippine Muslim

identity was uniquely forged among the various Muslim ethno-linguistic groups of the

Southern Philippines. In contemporary Muslim politics in Cotabato, the past inhabits the


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present in a manner insufficiently expressed by the term Traditionalism. The

extraordinary aspect of its occurrence in Cotabato is the extent to which not only various

Muslim separatist factions but also Christian politicians and state functionaries share the

perception that the political fate of Cotabato Muslims is tied to their traditional nobility as

a result of ancient and immortable bonds. The coming os Sarip Kabungsuwan to

Cotabato is the charter event for the claims of the rulers of Cotabato in the historical

period to nobility and moral authority. Sarip Kabungsuwan founded the Magindanao

sultanate at the coast his rule passed to his son, Sarip Makaalang. In synthesis, there

existed in the Cotabato Sultanates, from at least the middle of the 16

th

century. The

fundamental basis of power of datus was their control over subordinates, both those

legally free as well as unfree ones. On this foundation they were able to build

impressive personal relatives of armed and unarmed dependents. Cultural commitment

was an important factor for socio-political cohesion in pre-colonial Cotabato. There is

evidence also for the existence of independent perceptions and representations of the

social order by Cotabato subordinates.

Chapter 4 is about the European impositions and the Myth of Morohood. While a

significant number of Southeast Asian sultanates were founded or dramatically

expanded as the direct or indirect consequence of the initial European invasion of

Southeast Asia at the opening of the 16 th century, none have had their histories more

thoroughly entangled with that of European penetration of the region than the Cotabato

sultanates. Chinese sources from the Ming period and earlier suggest that, by at least

1300 A.D, there existed in Cotabato a harbour principality engaged in substantial direct

trade with China. The most intense collisions were with the Spaniards, who occupied


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underwritten and aligned themselves with the national state. Two dissimilar education

projects produced distinct Muslim counter elite. First was designed to integrate the

Philippine Muslims into national life and mainstream society, and the second was an

externally funded Islamic education project designed to enhance Islamic faith among

Philippine Muslims. The so called Jabidah Massacre had a long lasting effect on the

Muslim student community in Manila. The massacre transformed one campus activist

into a Muslim separatist, Nur Misuari. He was a tausug from Sulu and graduated from

the University of the Philippines through CNI funding. There is distrust and devaluation

of Muslims by the Christian who controlled the Philippine state. The communal violence

that swept across Cotabato in early 1970 was a diverse and complex phenomenon.

Attacks were overwhelmingly sectarian in nature.

Chapter 10 discusses the Muslim nationalism after Marcos. The collapse of the

Marcos regime in early 1986 brought a quickening political activity. Most Muslim

establishment figures lost their government positions. The Muslim separatist movement

in Cotabato transformed itself into a self-consciously Islamic movement.

The book is covered in plastic. The pages are still intact and in good condition,

no torn pages, no missing pages. The words are clearly printed with good choice of font.

The book is divided into chapters, with the chapters assigned in a different timeframe.

The chapters are arranged chronologically and cover a very long history of the Muslim

Philippines.

This Book Written by Thomas M

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Transcript of This Book Written by Thomas M