The Jabidah Massacre Essay Example

The Jabidah Massacre Paper In 1963, the resource-rich territory of Sabah, which had been under British control since the late nineteenth-century, formally became part of the Federation of Malaysia. The Philippines, however, protested this, claiming that Sabah had never been sold to foreign interests, and that it had only been leased (padjak) by the Sulu Sultanate and therefore remained the property of the Sultan and by extension the property of Republic of the Philippines. This dispute led the-then Philippine presidents Diosdado Macapagal then later on Ferdinand Marcos to establish special military units tasked with fomenting dissent amongst Sabahs non-Malay ethnic groups, namely the Tausug and Sama, two groups closely aligned ethnically and culturally with Filipinos. The code-name of this destabilization programme was Operation Merdeka (Operation Freedom), with Manuel Syquio as project leader and then Maj. Eduardo Abdul Latif Martelino as operations officer. The object of this program was the annexation of Sabah to the Republic of the Philippines. The plan involved the recruitment of nearly 200 Tausug and Sama Muslims aged 18 to 30 from Sulu Province and Tawi-Tawi and their training in the island-town of Simunul in Tawi-Tawi. Simunul was where the Arab missionary Makhdum built the first mosque in the Philippines in the 13th century. The recruits felt giddy about the promise not only of a monthly allowance, but also over the prospect of eventually becoming a member of an elite unit in the Philippine Armed Forces. From August to December 1967, the young recruits underwent training in Simunul. The name of the commando unit was Jabidah. We will write a custom essay sample on The Jabidah Massacre specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Jabidah Massacre specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Jabidah Massacre specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer On 30 December 1967, 135 to 180 recruits boarded a Philippine Navy vessel for the island of Corregidor in Luzon for specialized training. This second phase of the training turned mutinous when the recruits discovered their true mission. It struck the recruits that the plan would mean not only fighting their brother Muslims in Sabah, but also possibly killing their own Tausug and Sama relatives living there. Additionally, the recruits had already begun to feel disgruntled over the non-payment of the promised mon thly stipend. The recruits then demanded to be returned home. Four decades later, an incident known as the Jabidah massacre, continues to haunt the Philippines. No-one is sure how many trainee soldiers, most of them Muslims, died when a plan to attack the Malaysian state of Sabah leaked out and authorities moved to destroy the evidence. The Jabidah massacre, also known as the Corregidor massacre, refers to an incident which occurred on the night of March 18, 1968 on the Philippine island of Corregidor. It was on this night that members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) massacred at least 28 Moro Muslim recruits under their supervision. The Jabidah Massacre is widely regarded as having been the catalyst behind the modern Moro insurgencies in the Southern Philippines. As the sole survivor later recounted, the plotters led the trainees out of their Corregidor barracks on the night of March 18, 1968 in batches of twelve. They were taken to a nearby airstrip. There, the plotters mowed the trainees down with gunfire. Jibin Arula, the survivor, said that he heard a series of shots and saw his colleagues fall. He ran towards a mountain and rolled off the edge on to the sea. He recalled clinging to a plank of wood and stayed afloat. By morning, fishers from nearby Cavite rescued him. The truth of the massacre took some time to emerge. In March 1968 Moro students in Manila held a week long protest vigil over an empty coffin marked ‘Jabidah’ in front of the presidential palace. They claimed â€Å"at least 28† Moro army recruits had been murdered. Court-martial proceedings were brought against twenty-three military personnel involved. There was a firestorm in the Philippine press, attacking not so much the soldiers involved, but the culpability of a government administration that would ferment such a plot, and then seek to cover it up by wholesale murder. The matter even made its way to the Supreme Court in 1970, on a preliminary issue. Although the exact number of deaths still continues to vary depending upon the source of the reference, there is no denial of the fact that Corregidor was host to a massacre on that night. Comments and Analysis In March 1968 Moro students in Manila held a week long protest vigil over an empty coffin marked ‘Jabidah’ in front of the presidential palace. They claimed â€Å"at least 28† Moro army recruits had been murdered. Court-martial proceedings were brought against twenty-three military personnel involved. There was also a firestorm in the Philippine press, attacking not so much the soldiers involved, but the culpability of a government administration that would foment such a plot, and then seek to cover it up by wholesale murder. The plan of Ferdinand Marcos was failed because of the leaked happened. The members of the Jabidah do not want to continue the fight in Sabah because they were deprived of having promised monthly stipend. They were also dismayed because they discovered the true intention of the regime Marcos. The member of the Jabidah does not want to fight their Muslim brothers like Tausug and Maranao. The plan of Marcos was destroyed and unsuccessful so he ordered his military personnel to kill all the members of the Jabidah. It is not right to kill innocent people. Those people who were killed are not aware on the true mission of Marcos. Because of what Marcos did, many of our Muslim brothers wants to revenge on what happened in Jabidah massacre or in other words the Corregidor Massacre. There are Muslims who made a group that will fight the government for the wrong things they have done to our Filipino people. The main legacy of the Jabidah massacre was the crystallization of Moro discontent and the subsequent formation of the Moro National Liberation Front and, later, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Because what President Marcos done, the insurgency in our country increased, from that tragedy the Moro National Liberation Front was established and wants to fight the government and to separate the land for muslims only. Killing our co-Filipino is not a moral activity instead of killing other why we should help one another for the betterment of our country. Instead of decreasing insurgencies in our country, it become larger and larger and until now we can’t stop the insurgencies in our country because of wrong doings of our government. The justice for the people who died in Jabidah massacre was not given attention. After years past, the cased was disappeared and nothing happened. No right justice for those people who died in the massacre. Philippine justice system and no real punishment was ever handed-down to the accused. References http://www.corregidor.org/heritage_battalion/jabidah.html