Sri Lanka, 3 Years After The Civil War

Sri Lanka, a country officially called Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, had faced more than 25 years of a civil war against Tiger Tamil group or LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the war ended on May 2009, he succeeded in eradicating the rebel group through military operation. How is Sri Lanka today, three years after the war ended?

I went to Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka last March. As a journalist it was a bit difficult to get the visa to enter the country, although I can manage to get it in the end.

Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) release list of 13 most dangerous countries for journalist, where many of them were murdered (the index covers the years 2001 through 2010), and Sri Lanka was on the 4^th list, after Iraq, Somalia, and Philippine. Journalists were targeted either by rebel groups or government itself.

I arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital in the midnight, and I was a bit shock to find out that everything seems over prices here. The hotel I stayed on the first night, the rate is about USD 80/night, just and ordinary room, a bathroom but no internet facility (you may have it but you have to pay). I think that’s quite expensive, isn’t it?

I woke up early in the morning, and I went to the rooftop of the hotel to have my breakfast. From the rooftop, I can see some armies on the road, which create another question in my mind, have the country won the war? Then why do those military personnel are around with Kalashnikov a.k.a ak-45 hanged on their shoulder.

As a foreign journalist I had to get a press card from the government, and to enter some areas such as Jaffna, killinochi, mullativu, which was the home base of LTTE, I need a special permit from the ministry of national security. After getting my press card, I started to make the coverage around Colombo.

When I was there, there was a massive protest all around Colombo, against the UN resolution related to the government action to end up the civil war. According to the report of the secretary-general’s panel of expert on accountability in Sri Lanka, LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka, both committed human right violations. The expert panel mentioned at least there are five credible allegations of violation committed by the government, including:

1. Killing of civilians through widespread shelling
2. Shelling of hospitals and humanitarian objects
3. Denial of humanitarian assistance
4. Human right violations suffered by victims and survivors of the conflicts (including both IDPs and suspected LTTE cadre
5. Human rights violations outside the conflict zone (including against the media and other critics of the government)

On the other hand, expert panel also mentioned six credible allegation of violations committed by LTTE during the civil war:

1. Using civilians as a human buffer
2. Killing civilians attempting to flee LTTE control
3. Using military equipment in the proximity of civilians
4. Forced recruitment of children
5. Forced labour
6. Killing of civilians through suicide attacks

On march 22, 2012 in Geneva, UN passed a (US-sponsored) resolution after 24 countries decided to agree with the resolution, and only 15 countries against, and 8 abstentions.  The resolution urging Sri Lanka to had a credible investigation on alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final phase of the civil war.

At the same day, politicians, former soldiers and their families or relatives were gathered in the capital city of Sri Lanka to protest against the resolution, including some soldiers who lost their legs and using wheel chairs (which looks barely new as I can see the plastic covered the wheel).

Vikum Gunasekera, a former soldier who lost his legs during the war said, “Many have sacrificed a great deal for the country. As war heroes, we sacrificed a great deal – our lives, limbs and sight to bring about peace in the country.  As Sinhala Tamil Muslims of this country we are all living in absolute peace now. This sacrifice made by many people which resulted in peace, have been devalued by all these false allegations. The leadership of the president along with the security forces and brought about peace. We condemn the efforts made in Geneva to belittle and degrade what was done here”.

Back to the marches held by those war veterans and relatives, after a few kilometers walking, I saw there were some people giving the demonstration attributes such as posters, to the protester. I came out with a question, does the protest genuine or fake?

I asked Sumanthiran from the National Tamil Alliance about it and he said mostly the protest were well organised and many of them were pushed to join it, esp. the protest in the southern area, they were organised by the government. He said that he was happy with the UN resolution and thanking international community who has support the resolution, because in his opinion 3 years after the war ended, the government still has no good intention to bring the country to the right path. So, he wished the resolution would be their first step to bring the international community to push Sri Lanka to the right path of the reconciliation process.  

Sumanthiran told me many things about Sri Lanka before and after May 2009. There was a huge battle esp. at the northern area within the last two years before the war ended. About three hundred thousands people had to flee from the war zone to the refugees camp, and they still lived there up till today and hasn’t sent back to their home. The resettlement hasn’t finished yet.

Furthermore, Sumanthiran explained during the war there were alleged of serious human right abused lead to war crimes and human right violation, which according to UN expert panels both government and LTTE need to be investigated. Because there were no independent investigations about it, government created LLRC or Lesson Learn and Reconciliation Commission, which has success on creating the recommendation for the reconciliation process, but failed to release the accountability on the alleged human right abuses. So, now there were about a hundred thousand people or more were still missing and their families or relatives are still looking for them. The worse areas because of the war were the area declared by the government as no fire zone 2 and 3 in Mullativu district, many civilians brought to those areas and later on government shelled the areas and caused many people dead.

 To see the truth, I decided to go to the northern province of the country, Jaffna and some other district there like killinochi, mullativu and Puthukkudiruppu. Those areas were the home base of LTTE and there were a huge battlefield before. To visit those places I need a special permission from the ministry of national security, but without that letter finally I can go to those areas.

I arrived in Jaffna at night, and to be there I had to passed 2 military check point and showed them my identity card. All the way to this city I can see the government working hard to develop a better road. After three years they still busy with the development of the infrastructure? Well in my humble opinion if you come from a developed country you will say, it’s quite slow. But if you grew up in a developing country then you know what took it so long. Yes, I think it’s because of the mentality, a long and complicated bureaucracy that well maintained in many developing countries including Sri Lanka and also my beloved country, Indonesia (well, I have to admit it).

My first day in Jaffna, I was a bit shocked as I saw many military troops around, so after the war all these areas are still under the military control, but then I get used to this view. Jaffna is the capital city of the northern province of Sri Lanka, and it was under LTTE control. LTTE was born because of the Tamil people want to be independent and separated from Sri Lanka.  Tamils are the second largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka after Sinhalese, and Moors is the third major ethnic group in the Ceylon.

Asseikh S.A.C Rushan is a Sri Lankan moors that I met in Jaffna. He told me about the situation when they had to left their home when LTTE came to their village which was dominated by Muslim people. 15 October 1990 LTTE ordered and forced over 10,000 Muslim families to leave the area within two hours and the LTTE did not allow them to take out their valuables and money out, so they left with no belonging.

“When we left we couldn’t carry anything in our hands, for example if I said I wanted to go to Colombo, they gave out the exact bus fare to leave for Colombo and we couldn’t carry out our money or wealth. Their reasoning was, that what we earned and built as businesses were within the state of Eelam, therefore at the point of leaving we couldn’t take anything out” Asseikh explained.

That time he didn’t know where to go and during that time there wasn’t a proper public transport system, because the LTTE and the government were fighting each other, so they travelled in lorries the same way cattle were transported packed in lorries over capacity. The LTTE blocked the road so they had to take another routes, after 4 days they finally arrived in Vavuniya and Putlam afterwards where Government built 25 camps to accommodate them. Up till today, many Muslims families are still living in camps, while Asseikh said he only stayed there for about three years.

According to Asseikh, In 1995 when the army took control of Jaffna so they had a chance of returning to their homes but they didn’t come back, and after the truce agreement in 2001 they had another opportunity to come and see their home again, but not on the resettlement purposes as the situation was not conducive yet. He came back here in 2009 after the war ended, and he said from 2008 – 2012 around 500 families are resettled. But now, 15 – 16,000 families are still living in camps.

He is happy as he felt the situation is better now, no more terrorist group or war, but because there’s no development in terms of infrastructure, schools and mosques, people feel hesitant to return. “In our area, the government and NGOs have not done any development work either, we need our schools homes and roads rebuilt. With this situation, the percentage of people who want to return is very small. People don’t want to resettle back here again because they fear that in case they have to leave again, they will not have the resources to move and start all over again” he explained.

After that, I met Emelda Sukumar, A Tamil woman who became the Government Agent in Jaffna. Open minded, genius, and brave that’s my first impression on her, and to meet her wasn’t as difficult and bureaucratise as the others.

 She talked to me about the development on the resettlement process and the entire problem on their way to achieve it. The biggest problem of all according to her is the land mine that was spread by the LTTE in many areas, and the clearance process took times. When the areas had cleared, then they gave those areas back to the civilians who owned it before.

Then I decided to visit the places Emelda told me, I met M. Shanmugalingam in Illavalai, Jaffna. He was displaced and had to move from place to place like Changanai and Irubalai, then Vanni. During the cease-fire agreement on 2002, he came back to Achchuveli in Jaffna, and April 2011 he came back to Illavalai.

Shanmugalingam said “During the military operations, we left our home lands, because there were bombs and missiles so we went from place to place as displaced people do. After I returned to this village, through the AG we worked under the Work For Money Project and I earned twenty five thousand rupees. They also gave us assistance from the Government to cultivate our land. We have also got water pumps and pipes to irrigate the land. We used all those resources to cultivate the land and have a harvest like this as well (points at the onions behind him)”.

Furthermore, he said that he felt happy finally he came back to his hometown and he wish the peaceful situation continues, so he can develop his cultivation and live peacefully. He said when he came back to this place on April 2011, he was scared and cautious because of the landmine problem. “There were several landmines but when the forces were informed, they came and removed them off our land” he added.

From Illavalai I went to Killinochi and along the way I can see many sign on the left and right side of the road explained that those areas haven’t cleared from the landmine yet. Thereafter I went to Puthukkudiruppu (PTK) where I met Anne Marie, a 76 years old woman who lost his son during the war. Mostly young people in this area were a member of LTTE, many of them missing or dead during the war, and this probably happened to Anne Marie’s son. Many of those young men were pushed to joint LTTE, some of them try to avoid it by getting married soon, so they can rejected the ordered by LTTE.

Anne said: “I am keeping well, but I am a little short of hearing, I don’t get involved in situations with others, if someone wants a loan from me, I give what I can. That’s all. I don’t know when my son died, they say he died during a shell attack in Mullivaikkal, I didn’t get to see his body even. I asked them to show me his body but they didn’t”.

She was with her grand children when the war was on going and shells were fired and she ran out, then she lost her hearing because of the sound. Now she lives in PTK with her daughter, and usually she weaves Cadjan fronds for living.

Life has been hard for all the civilians, they do not stand for any group during the war, they just suddenly became victims, and for sure it was not heir choices. Nowadays, some NGO gave a workshop to people here, some of the workshop focused on women empowerment and awareness on gender based violence.

N Maheswary is a woman I met in PTK and joint a workshop held by an NGO. She learnt about what is an abuse, why it happens, how to avoid it and come out of an abusive situation. The workshop also educated them how to nurture the children out of such an abusive situation and how they could manage their skills and resources.

The war made Maheswary a bit trauma with the situation, “ I don’t have any sense of security as I lost my husband. I should have better awareness.  I have undergone much hardship and difficulty and all of this has affected me. In order to not go through such a situation again, I feel that this training will help me a great deal. I can live without having any meals for one entire day, but I can’t accept the problems I had to face.  I came for this programme specifically so I could learn what to do, so my children will not suffer the same fate as me”.

She works as a daily paid labour, clearing the bunkers or repair the roads, and some other time she helps people to cultivate vegetables. As single parents of five children, she doesn’t care if she had to work hard and need strenuous efforts to earn for living.

Again, the truth I saw in this island convince me that war just give a victory to some people who fights, while ordinary people who stay around the battlefield suffering and become victims in a sudden. Those ordinary people, they do not choose to be the victims, but people who fight each other create them to be. Women, children and old people suffered the most!

I am officially a Chevening scholar now!

To be a Chevening scholar, it was a dream for me, and every dream will come to us when we try hard to reach it. I always believe that as a human being, we have to put our dream as the sky high, and we need to work hard, play hard and pray hard so we can take them all to our hands.

I applied for the scholarship January 2012 through the online application, I did not expect anything that time, I mean I just pray if it’s my luck and it’s gonna be mine. A month later, I got an email invited for the interview stages of the scholarship. I remember that time, I was at the coffee shop in our office and I’m so happy read that email. I talked to several friends and discussed with them what am I supposed to prepare and what should I do.

On the d-day of the interview day, I was so nervous, every question came across my mind, how should I answer every question the interviewer will ask me? What if they try to discredit me? My best friend took me to the British Council office (where the interview took place) at the IDX building, Jakarta.

I was the third person interviewed that day, and some other candidates had waited too. Then after about an hour I guess, my turn comes. There were two interviewers waiting, both of them are from the British embassy, and unfortunately I couldn’t remember their name, maybe because I was so nervous 😉

As I remember, the first question they asked me about my experiences in Libya as I wrote in my motivation letter that I was covering the revolution in the country April 2011. I told them that I stayed in Benghazi and covered the story in the town and also at the frontline. But instead of only focus on the war at the frontline, I also try to cover the side bar of the story, I managed to get a profile of a woman who joint the revolution. A woman in the middle of the revolution, it’s not a special things if it happen in the western society, but here we are talking about Libya, the Arab world and the patriarchal culture. But during the revolution, In Libya I saw many women joint the revolution and participated in creating a massive demonstration to asked the international organization to get involved and help them to face the current regime under Muammar Gaddafi. And every Friday they will joint the men, praying together at the downtown called “medan mahkamah” a place where the revolution began for the first time (17 February 2011, even the small demonstration started from 15 February 2011, indeed).

Back to the interview, then they asked me about how did I communicate with local people in Libya, what am I gonna be in the next 10 years, what course I want to take and why, etc. those interviewer asked me with no intention to cornering me. Deep inside my heart I was thinking, whether they think I am gonna be the right person to get the scholarship or no. Were they interested to the topic I was talking about?

After the interview I called some friends to ask what do they think about my answer. Usually, I am the interviewer with hundred questions in my mind as I am a journalist, but that time was the opposite… weew…

After the interview, I kept thinking am I gonna get the scholarship? The question was never revealed before.

Then, I was busy with my work. I had to go to Sri Lanka on March and back to Jakarta early April and had to leave for North Korea after two days. Before leaving for the DPRK, the embassy told me that I cannot bring my mobile phone there, and it means I can’t accept any phone call for about 11 days there. Another question came to my mind, what if someone from British Council or Chevening call? Then I decided to leave my mobile to a friend, so if there is any important call she can pick it up for me.

April 2012, I was in Pyongyang when I got an email from British embassy said that I had impressed the interview panel on the 21 February, and I could move on to the final stages, including; medical check up, got the unconditional offer from the university, etc. Thanks God, when I was in DPRK, they provided us with the Internet facility (not free of course) in a hall in Yanggakdo hotel, so I can check my email when I had a free time. This internet facility can only be found in the conference hall, I can’t check on my mail in other places. There is an internet corner art the hotel, but only to send an email with limited acces. That’s why they provided a special place for us to use the internet.

And finally at the end of July I got the scholarship confirmed. I am now ready to pack and take my Master degree in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies at Lancaster University. That day was the most beautiful day in my life, feels like I’ve been waiting for so many years to hear this, but it actually only few month. When we wait for something every minute feels like a day, and everyday feels like a month. But now, I can come up with big smile and grin and I can only say I am so happy to be part of the community, meet many great people with big dreams.

11 days Inside North Korea, the most isolated country on earth

How do you call North Korea? The most isolated country in the world? I think it is, but thankfully I had the opportunity to visit the country on last April during the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung and the rocket launch. For this unbelievable moment, I have to praise my producer Ike Agestu who offered me this rare opportunity, Thank you so much cik!

Well, that was April 2012 when I left Jakarta heading to Pyongyang, North Korea. I was just arrived in Jakarta 2 days before, covering the story in Sri lanka (post war). Honestly, that time, it was hard for me to believe that I am gonna visit the country of Kim Il Sung, esp as a journalist. From Jakarta, we went to Beijing and then take another flight to Pyongyang by AirKroyo, North Korean airline.

In Beijing, I saw other journalists and they look so excited for the coverage in the country called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or DPRK. We arrived in Pyongyang at noon after 2 days flight for me, as I have to transit in Singapore and Beijing, before arriving in this country. Soon when I arrived, I can see military personnel everywhere, we have to pass the immigration and customs, they checked all of our belonging, and we were not allowed to bring our mobile phone and any other satellite devices inside the country, so we have to left it at the airport. I can understand it, as they keep trying to avoid any intervene and also to avoid any possibilities of spy entering the country.

After several hours at the airport, each media got one guide or we call it as minder who will help us on translation and explain about everything, but also to control what we do during our stay in DPRK.

Pyongyang, we arrived during spring and stayed for about 11 days, this city was quite beautiful and interesting of course. Well we can see the attribute of Communists party everywhere, so does with the monument of the founding father of the country Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il. Both of them are worshiped like Gods by its people, Kim Il Sung well known as “The Great Leader” and always called as President, while his son Kim Jong Il called as “Our Dear Leader”, and the young Kim who become the successor of his father legacy called “Our Supreme Leader”.

I spoke to Kim Won Gyong, a North Korean and also a guide in the Mayongdae the place where Kim Il Sung grew up. She told us that she adore Kim Il Sung because he led the revolution against the Japanese imperialism, when he was about 14 years old, and became the first president of the DPRK.

In fact, there is a significant proximity between Indonesia and North Korea, during president Soekarno (Indonesian first president), we had a close relationship with DPRK. Once, during his birthday celebration, Kim Il Sung decided to visit Indonesia. He was staring at an orchid flower, when Soekarno gave him the flowers and named it Kim Il Sungia, as his birthday gift. Later on, this flower tightens the relationship between two countries.

In the year of 1994, Kim Il Sung died and his son Kim Jong Il became his successor.  He led the country for about 17 years, and when he passed away on December 2011, his son Kim Jong Un become his successor when he was about 28 years old.

In his first year as the president of the socialist country, the young Kim made a controversy when he decided to celebrate 100^th anniversary of his grand father, Kim Il Sung by launch a rocket. Pyongyang said that the rocket launch intended to put the satellite in to the orbit, while USA, Japan, South Korea said that was for the intercontinental ballistic missiles test. To prove it, North Korean government invited many journalists from all over the world to visit the country and to tell the world the truth.

The day after we arrived in Pyongyang, our minder asked us to wake up early, as we had to go far away in the morning. I asked him where are we going, and he said to a place that he doesn’t know too, but that place is the reason why all the journalist are in North Korea. We had to face a checkpoint inside the hotel, because they said we could only bring our camera, tripod, and the microphone only, no laptop and other devices.

They took us by bus to a train station, and again we didn’t know where it was, and then they took us by train. I asked some other journalist, whether they know where are we going and no one has any clues, but all of us guessing they will took us to the rocket launch site, because they said this is the place that we want to see.

It takes about five hours before we arrived in a place named Chongson, and again there was a checkpoint. After passed the checkpoint, they took us to the satellite centre. It is true, this is the satellite and the rocket launch site. Jang Myong Ri, the manager who responsible for the launching met us, I asked him about their newest agreement with the government of the USA, which USA agreed to give a food program aid but North Korea had to agree on a nuclear moratorium, and USA also said the will cancel it, if Pyongyang persistence to launch the rocket. Jang Myong Ri said they had plan to launch the satellite since few years ago, so there is nothing to do with the deal. And I said “but Hillary Clinton said this is a provocative way by your country?” means that if you insist to launch it, then USA might be cancel the food aid, but Jang Myong Ri just laugh and said that’s why we invited you (journalists) to come to our country and show the world the truth, that we’re gonna launch an observatory satellite not an intercontinental ballistic missile test as been said by USA and some other countries.

Well, they showed us the satellite (the real one they said) that will be soon put into the orbit. After that they took us to see the rocket called Taepodong that will be used to put the satellite in to the orbit. In fact, Taepodong was a missile and use by the military, but now they use it for research purposes to explore their resources, but the USA doubt it.

The government of the North Korea also invited several experts to see the rocket and satellite. An expert from Russia, Yuri Karash said rocketry is a dual use technology, which can be used for controlling meteorological satellite and also for the development of intercontinental ballistic missile.

The second purposes is the one that the USA are worried about, if the DPRK use it for the second purposes, even Pyongyang always said that the project is pure for observation on their resources.

I met Christian Ladder, a journalist expert in space issues, he told me that Taepodong was designed about 15 years ago and they (DPRK) have tested it twice and failed.  He added, the missile is only the lower part of the rocket. He added that another country also do the same at the beginning . USA starts it around 1950 using Thor and Atlas and added one more stage on the rocket, to put the satellite. The third stage on the rocket bodies is the difference between missile and rocket for satellite launch, because if it only two stages then it’s a missile.

I asked Christian where does the two stages goes if they launch it, and he said the first stage of the rocket will go to the sea, about 600 km from the site, and the second one will fall about 2500 km after the first one, also in the ocean, and the last stage will go to the orbit.

The satellite named Kom Yung Song 3 or “the shining star” completed with a camera (resolution: 100 M), and if the launching goes well then the satellite could also broadcast the song of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

After inviting us to the launch site, Pyongyang also made a press conference in Yanggakdo hotel with Ryu Kum Chol from the Korean space technology Committee. Ryu said that the satellite is a gift from Korean people to president Kim Il Sung in his birthday, so there is no way they will ruin it with a ballistic missile test.

When journalist asked him about UN resolution, he said that they do not recognise any UN resolution that violate their nation sovereignty and they have informed all international organisation related to the space treaty about the launching. They also believe every country in the world has the right to have satellite.

In 2009, North Korea had tried to launch a rocket and it was failed, due to the launch, UN release a resolution that prohibit DPRK to launch any kind of rocketry for any purposes, because it might threat the current peace and raise the tension in Korean peninsula. Technically, there is no peace agreement between North Korea and South Korea, the war started in 1950, and in 1953 both country agreed on a cease-fire agreement. Up till today, that truce was the only deal they both agreed.

However, on the 13^th of April 2012, DPRK decided to launch the rocket, and there is no foreign journalist invited knows about it. Early morning, we heard the news from abc news and nhk, which said that the launching was failed after about 1-2 minutes. I can’t remember what time it was when everyone gathers at the conference hall waiting for the confirmation from some authorities. It was so hectic, as we thought they would let us know and see the launching through the big screen at the conference hall. No big screen or a press conference we had. So, no confirmation we got, but around 11 a.m local time, the DPRK tv station admit that the launching was failed.

Although the rocket had crashed into the sea and the satellite failed to reach its trajectory in the orbit, but the celebration on the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung was still continued. On the d-day, 15 April 2012, we were invited to Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang city. I can see they will show us their military power as I can see many military around and far away I saw some military tanks.

Kim Jong Un, the grand children of the founding father of the country started the celebration today by his first speech since succeeded his father, Kim Jong Il, who died December last year. Kim Jong Un praised his grand father and father as the previous leader of the country who bring them to the modern era now. The young Kim said they would also increase their military power to strengthen the country.

Soon after the speech, they held military parade, thousand (I guess) troops walked along the Kim Il Sung Square. On the other hand, civilians who came here with flowers in their hand always said “Manse” out loud, which means “long live” for the eternal president Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il.

The military parade held for about 2 hours, many kind of weaponry showed to us, from gun, military tank, missiles including their newest missiles that claimed as Intermediate range missiles by some experts, and at the end of the parade, 5 warplanes flight on the Pyongyang sky, it seems they want to tell the world that their military power is strong enough.

11 days stayed in the most isolated country gave many experiences and new things in my life. DPRK, a socialist country ruled by a communist party, as a journalist I experienced many priceless moments here. Well, many people asked me how was DPRK? And I said, it’s not as bad as the USA said but nor as good as their government said. But what I have in mind is, the war between DPRK and ROK is not exactly the war between them, but the war of ideology that brought by Soviet to DPRK and USA to ROK, long long time ago. When Soviet with the communism and socialist ideology getting closer to DPRK that time, USA started to worry and tried to stop it through South Korea. In the end we realise that DPRK and ROK were not supposed to fight as we see now. Well, it’s all only my humble idea based on the truth I see, feel free criticise me if you do not agree or have different ideas.

A Never ending conflict in Mindanao

This is only another part of my journey, in this life. That was November 2011, I had a chance to visit Southern part of Philippine, yups… Mindanao Island… the island of the conflict, where Moro people, majority muslim, want to build their own country and separated from the government of the Republic of Philippine.

At least, there are three biggest armed groups of the Moro people in Mindanao. The first one is Moro Nationalist Liberation Front (MNLF), founded on 1969 with Nur Misuari as the founding father. The peace process between MNLF and government of the Philippine began 1976 through Tripoli treaty, and in 1996 MNLF reach the deal with Philippine Govt under President Fidel Ramos.

While the peace talk began during that time, another separatist group was born as its impact. Hashim Salamat who did not agree with the term of negotiation between MNLF and govt of Phillipine formed MILF or Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Now this group led by El Hadji Murad and become the biggest organisation of Moro people in Mindanao. And now the peace talk between MILF and the govt of Philippine is still on going.

As the previous situation, when there is a peace talk between the rebels group, another separatist group will born. Ameril Umra Kato is the man now, he was one of high commanders in MILF, but on 19 August 2011, he built Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), after leaving MILF.

Umra Kato was the man behind the 2008 incident, that caused more than 70 people died, hundreds injured and six hundred thousand people had to flee their home because of the situation. Ever since after the incident, there are only several high commanders in MILF who knows where Umrakato hide. The military put his name as one of the most wanted man in Mindanao, worth ten million pesos (more than twenty three thousand us dollar) for about 80 cases charges over him.

But then, Umrakato decided to form another rebels group outside MILF. I had an opportunity to meet him on November 2011 in his hiding camp, which he named it Camp Al Faruq (it was camp omar) in Mindanao. He said, it is because MILF does not want him to use the name of Camp Omar, because it’s the name of MILF’s camp, so he changed it. As I know, in Islam Al faruq is a title for Omar, one of the closest friends of the Prophet Mohammad.

Umrakato told me, he is not the one who asked to leave MILF, but the MILF leader asked him to leave so that he created BIFM with his loyal followers.

 In his hiding camp, he welcomes us nicely. I told him I come from Indonesia, the biggest Muslim country in the world (which he already know indeed), and it made him respect us (me and my camera person).

 

There, I found many of his followers holding different kind of weapon, from M-16, sniper series, machine gun and RPG, actually these kind of weaponry are quite common in Mindanao. Mostly, all the rebels groups here have this kind of weapon.

 

I talked with Umrakato about many things, esp why he decided to create BIFM and what does he want through the armed group. He said he has a different idea with MILF, he does not agree with the peace talk between MILF and government. He still wants Mindanao to be independent and he believes that peace will come to Mindanao after being Independent.

 

After that, he invited us to have lunch together with them and he promised to invite us if he’s meeting Nur Misuari , in the next few days. And yes he did it, a few days after our first interview with him, he invited us again right when Nur Misuari came to visit him, and we were the only journalists he invited in this moment.

 

I was surprised, how he believed in us, because we are not Philippines and he just knew us for few days. But I always believe, as I do my work as a journalist professionally, and I do not have an evil intention. On the other hand, I keep promising to my self that I will always keep the secret of my source, whatever it takes, Maybe this is why, Umrakato trust us to see him in his hiding camp.

 

Another day in Mindanao, I also had an opportunity to visit the MILF camp or Moro Islamic Liberation Front, called camp Darapanan. This is actually the headquarter of MILF camp, and I can say this camp is well established. There is “madrasah” or Islamic school inside the camp and some civilians are living around the camp. They took us around camp to see how people live there, but then I asked Gadzali Jaafar, the vice chairman of this group to take us to another camp to see how big is their military power, and the next day he allowed us to visited their special forces, ittihad. There, they showed me how they train their strategy in the situation of war. That was on Friday, so I can also see how these people are praying even in a place like this (camp), and they always keep their selves ready and aware of any kind of situation, the weapon is always beside them as they prepare them selves of any attack.

 

I also visited Barangay Alonganen, this is one of the most dangerous areas as the fighting between MILF and BIFM keep happening almost everyday. The ABC Captain in that area told me that almost every families in that area has gun, because of the situation there, so everyone just like want to protect them selves from any attack. This kind of thought makes me think, how could peace come when people think “to protect yourself, you need gun” because what I believe is gun needed to attack others, not to protect ourselves. But of course I cannot blame what those people do, I can imagine how they live with no peace in their life. The only thing I can do, keep praying for them, may peace come to this place and everyone will be living in harmony.

 

Mindanao has a thousand stories to be told for me, how civilians live here under uncertain situation. When I was in Cotabato and Zamboanga Sibugay, I have been told that bomb used to explode around once in two weeks, and the day when I arrived in Cotabato, there was an explosion at the down town. Foreigner must be careful here, as the number of kidnaping is also high, and keep in mind that this island is the home base of Abu Sayyaf Group and also some other lawless group, esp in Basilan Island (I was there too) and Jolo Island.

 

For me, this is priceless. In my life as a journalist I feel blessed and lucky for having this kind of opportunities. I was born in a small village in central Borneo, and I grew up in South Borneo, when I was a child, I just never imagined that one day I am going to have this kind of experiences, and I feel blessed and bliss.