It is unfortunate that this Sabah excursion occurred.  We are pushed towards a solution of violence which never works to benefit of the many.  There are reasons for and against the two sides. The Kirams have the acknowledged ownership of Sabah. However, time has overtaken their claim on sovereignty. The more level-headed observers wish that a win-win solution be found.  It only complicates the position of the Philippines and in particular Mindanao to use violence. The Philippine claim to sovereignty has many holes in it. But neither is Malaysia’s claim any better. We are therefore in a fathomless dilemma. And we should allow our elected officials to make the decisions for us.

Claims on sovereignty only bring problems to the Philippines as a country. We as a country would hardly benefit from such claims. The heirs of the Sultan of Sulu, however, may be benefitted.   One encouraging development is that it seems that the Kirams have finally gotten together to put up a common front. The Malaysians will try to divide them which would be to their advantage. (I have heard the statement that if only the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu would get together, they can claim their ownership of Sabah and each of them would be millionaires instead of receiving the pittance that they get as rent for the territory that rightfully belongs to them.)

No win-win solution is in sight and so we are in a stalemate. But even if so, this does not justify violence to achieve the goal.  In a way, such violence would work to Malaysia’s benefit. The peace should be found through truth and justice.  Ownership and the benefits of ownership should be given to the Kirams as rightful heirs to the Sultan of Sulu. Sovereignty is another matter.

An alternative that comes to mind is to establish Sabah as an independent nation. This has to be decided on by the people of Sabah. This should leave the Philippines and Malaysia out of the bickering. Malaysia is officially a Muslim nation but the people of Sabah have a large proportion of animist and Christian minority. The heirs of the Sultan of Sulu are Muslim. But they are asking the intervention of a Christian nation to protect their ownership rights.  We are left with the dilemma.  We need a lot of more thinking to come to a win-win solution.  This issue can complicate the peace of Mindanao just when things started to look up.

Just as the return of Filipinos from Sabah we now have to prepare that at least a portion of the ten million overseas workers would be coming home in the next few years. As our economy perks up, this might signal the start of a return.  (We all love to go overseas but this time no longer as menial workers but perhaps as tourists.)

Some economists are of the opinion that building roads and bridges are a good way of creating jobs and the Lord knows we can use a lot of roads and concreting to fit our weather conditions. A big boost in the US economy was the creation of the highway system and another good example is what Taiwan did in the 1960s.  They concreted almost every available road on the island, thus not only creating jobs, but also they made transport of goods much easier. <emeterio_barcelon@yahoo.com>