Page 246 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

THE WINTER OF ISLAM AND THE SPRING TO COME
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was set up in the 1970s during the Muslim uprisings, tortured thou-
sands of Muslims to death during that time. They believed that they
acquired supernatural powers by drinking the blood or eating the
flesh of those they killed ... They would raid villages and slaughter
people. The attacks then just turned into looting and pillaging. A bot-
tle full of human ears was recently found in a village on Mindanao,
the owners of which have yet to be identified. 63
Muslim villages were burned during these raids, and the Moros'
belongings plundered. Yet very little changed for the Muslims when
Marcos was overthrown in a popular revolt in 1986. His successor,
Corazon Aquino, planned to intimidate and eliminate them by other
means. During Aquino's rule, the insurgents and military operations
were intensified and the administration openly declared war against
the Muslim movement. A "total war policy" was adopted by President
Aquino, resulting to a displacement of more than a million Filipinos.
School buildings and churches were used as venues for the fleeing fam-
ilies. 64
The oppression of the Muslims continued after Aquino. Relations
then improved for a short while, before growing tense again when
mosques were bombed in 1994. On the other hand, the fact that a radi-
cal, pro-terror organization put down roots among Muslims at the same
time worsened the problem. A solution to the problems in the
Philippines will only be possible if the Manila administration abandons
its decades-old policies of oppression and recognizes the rights of the
Muslims in the south, and if the terrorist movements which have
emerged claiming to represent the Muslims but which actually only do
them harm are stopped.

CAMBODIA

Years-old Hatred of Islam
The tiny, impoverished country of Cambodia lies in Asia, between
India and China, in a region known as Indochina. Most of the country's
people are illiterate and have for centuries relied on agriculture to sur-