Press Release from Young Moro Professionals Network: National Peace Council member asks youth to reject biases vs Muslims

QUEZON CITY – If you have an online account, be a peace ambassador!

This was the challenge issued by Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman, a member of the National Peace Council and founder of the youth group Teach Peace, Build Peace Movement, to young Filipinos as peace advocates await Congress’ approval of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Usman called on young Filipinos to take on a bigger role in eradicating biases against Muslims as she noted that responsible and pro-active use of social media accounts by young people could help break barriers set up by differences in religion, help build bridges of understanding among peoples, and help correct individual prejudices.

“[I]f you have 3,000 or 4,000 friends in [your] social media [accounts], let’s contradict those negative messages or barriers [between religion and culture] by posting all those that we have learned everyday about peace and understanding,” Sumndad-Usman said.

Sumndad-Usman is a member of the National Peace Council, a group composed of respected community leaders assembled by President Benigno S. Aquino III that led a national discussion to help people understand the bill aimed at establishing a new parliamentary regional government that will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The peace council member and youth leader stressed “the importance of building a culture of peace in creating different generations of peace builders.”

“Through peace education, you are able to create a space for every Filipino to understand each other. You can make love and understanding beginning with the younger generation. Continuously, engage yourself not just in the Bangsamoro course but also in the peace discourse,” Sumndad-Usman advised.

Focusing on the Bangsamoro peace process, Sumndad-Usman implored the youth to help end the conflict once and for all. “The need for peace and social justice in Mindanao should be cleared or else the next generation will inherit the conflicts. Our goal is that someday the future generation wouldn’t know what war is.”

Social injustice is root of conflict

“To answer the Bangsamoro question, we must know and realize what the Bangsamoro is. The problem of Mindanao is rooted in social injustice,” Sumndad-Usman commented, stressing that the biases against the Moro people and the Bangsamoro is the cause of the armed rebellion in Mindanao.

“The Mindanao conflict is the second longest internal conflict in the world. The massacres of the Moro people are the reason for the call of Muslim Independence by the armed groups. This can be traced within the historical context,” she said.

Visayan youth groups call for BBL passage

“Youth development can only thrive in a climate of peace. Conflict is a deterrent to the realization of young people’s full potentials,” National Youth Commission (NYC) Assistant Secretary Perci Cendaña stressed in a parallel event held elsewhere.

The NYC executive added that peace was a key investment in youth development and that conflicts prevented them from attaining their aspirations. “The Philippine Youth Index in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is very, very low and it has the highest unemployment rate in the youth. Ang Mindanao ay isa sa pinakamayamang land source sa Pilipinas pero sila rin ang may mataas na poverty incidence (The Mindanao is one of the richest land sources in the Philippines but they also have the highest poverty incidence),” Cendaña noted.

Meanwhile, Federation of Muslim Students Association Vice President Jabar Sabdullah reiterated that the BBL would end the inequality to the Moro people and that now was an opportunity to know our Muslim brothers and sisters. “We must give peace a chance; after all, if war is the answer we are asking the wrong question.”

“Further, it is high time to realize the grievances of the Bangsamoro and to translate our visions of peace into reality in the form of BBL,” Sabdullah said, expressing his hopes that the BBL was a chance to end the conflict in Mindanao and to correct social injustices in the Bangsamoro.

Student Ronald Ray Ensalada of Cebu Normal University Publication voiced his concern on the delayed passage of the draft law in Congress and appealed to enact it before the administration ends. “We have to rush the passage of the BBL under President Aquino’s administration because the next President might not be able to put this in priority and delay more the step in achieving peace in Mindanao,” he stated. ###

Reference:

Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman

Chairperson, Young Moro Professionals Network; and

Member, Peace National Council

Email address: teachpeace.mail@gmail.com

20 January 2016