The Imam of Tawi-Tawi

by Ian Hamilton

  “Are those problems still ongoing?”

  “No, we managed to resolve them,” he said. “Most of our workers, like many people who live in the region, were members of the Brotherhood. I contacted the leaders I’d come to know and asked them for their help. I told them we needed labour peace, no more logistical problems, and real security. I convinced them that successful plantations would be beneficial for their membership and for the region, which is the poorest in the entire country. They agreed to co-operate with us.”

  “Did you pay them?”

  “Better than that, we made them partners in the business. We gave them a minority stake, of course, but enough for them to care that we became profitable,” Ramirez said. “Other businesses in the area took note and did the same thing. Now just about every successful large-scale business in Mindanao has the Muslim Brotherhood as a partner.”

  “It sounds like a cozy relationship.”

  “As long as it lasts.”

  “Is it threatened?”

  “The Brotherhood likes the current status quo. They have considerable influence with the Mindanao regional government and hold senior positions in it. Their central organization is accumulating funds from the profit-sharing. Their members have steady employment. They are growing in strength and numbers,” Ramirez said. “But in their line of business — the revolution business — nothing is permanent. They could decide one day that they’re strong enough to make another play for complete independence. New leaders could adopt different objectives and tactics. And then, of course, there’s always the large, dark cloud that is Manila.”

  “Manila?”

  “We have a new president.”

  “Yes. I’ve read about him.”

  “He’s a Christian from Davao City on Mindanao, and he’s not pro-Muslim — in fact, it could be argued that he’s the opposite. That wouldn’t matter so much if he hadn’t been erratic and impulsive in the past, when it came to directing the local police force. The way they operated there was to shoot first and ask questions later. There are expectations that his style won’t change, and that makes him potentially dangerous at the national level,” Ramirez said. “But even if he is stable, many of my political colleagues in the Senate and the House of Representatives would rip up the Muslim Mindanao Act if given half a chance, and the military are dying to unleash their dogs on the region.

  “The politicians don’t remember how bad things were before Aquino took the action she did. Mindanao was a true war zone. We were fighting against a well-equipped army and hundreds of people were dying. Now all we have are occasional kidnappings, but the politicians use those few instances as proof that the region is still lawless and out of control — a direct result of granting it autonomy. It’s true there are still terrorist groups in the south, but they’re like flies on a bull compared to what we had before. The military just want to flex their muscles and are desperate to find any kind of provocation. One of my fears is that this new president won’t need much of an excuse to turn them loose.”

  “Senator, as interesting as all this is, I’m not sure what it has to do with what was described to me as a problem at the Zakat College of Tawi-Tawi,” Ava said.

  “I want you to understand the Brotherhood and my connection to them. I also thought it was important to give you some knowledge of the political landscape in which they operate.”

  “But why?”

  “Well, simply put, if you want to find out what’s going on at Zakat College, you’re going to have to talk to the Brotherhood, and I didn’t want you to do that in a vacuum,” he said. “Please remember what I told you: they like the status quo. They’re nervous about anything that might bring instability to the region.”

  “Are you suggesting the college might do that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Uncle Chang said it was Islamic.”

  “There are many forms of Islamic education. I’m not an expert, and neither is Chang.”

  “But what did your friends at the Brotherhood tell you about the school? Why did both you and Uncle Chang tell me it has the potential to be disruptive — which I take to mean destructive?”

  “Those questions are best answered by the Brotherhood. My preference, as I explained to Chang, is for you to talk to them directly,” he said. “He agrees with me that it is the most sensible approach. I can assure you that the Brotherhood will be forthcoming, because they are as obliged to me as I am to Chang Wang and Tommy Ordonez. I consider them to be our partners and our staunch allies.”

  Ava looked across the table at him. His face was impassive but his body had tensed. “This is getting absurd,” she said. “Chang Wang wanted me to talk to you, and now you want to hand me off to the Brotherhood.”

  He shook his head. “I apologize for our lack of clarity. Everything I’ve been told and have passed on to Tommy and Chang is at best second-hand, and it might be third- or fourth-hand information. I’ve asked the Brotherhood to arrange for you to meet the main sources. We want you to hear their stories, directly from them, and for you to assess their reliability. Then we need to confirm or prove false what they’re telling us. Chang told me that you’re the only person he and Tommy Ordonez trust to do that.”

  Ava sighed, feeling a mixture of frustration and growing anger. “It’s lovely to be so trusted, but right now that means nothing to me. What I want is to be told why I should even consider meeting with the Brotherhood. So unless you can give me a reason that I think has merit, I’m going to be on the first plane back to Hong Kong.”

  Ramirez turned away from her, fixing his gaze on the patio windows, which looked out on a floodlit garden. “I’ve been getting around to that. It’s just a difficult thing to say out loud,” he said softly, and again lapsed into silence.

  “Senator?” she said.

  He turned towards her. His eyes were hooded and his mouth tightly drawn. “We’ve been told that the college in Tawi-Tawi is training terrorists.”

  ( 7 )

  Ava lowered her head. She took a moment to absorb what Ramirez had just told her, then reached for her water and drained it.

  “I’m not quite sure I heard you correctly,” she finally said, pouring herself another glass.

  “That was my first reaction,” Ramirez said. “But that’s exactly what we’ve been told, and we have to find out if it’s true.”

  “I can understand your shock, but why haven’t you gone to the appropriate authorities here in the Philippines? I’m sure they’re well equipped to do surveillance, and there can’t be any doubt they’d have an interest.”

  “Which authorities? The intelligence service of the armed forces? The National Bureau of Investigation? The Philippine National Police intelligence service? We have so many, and when they’re not fighting each other, they’re leaking stories to the media.”

  “I read that you’re on the oversight committee for intelligence. Couldn’t you have gone to them?”

  “I am vice-chair of the Senate committee that oversees the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency. All that means is that I get to watch the chaos from a front-row seat. There is no coordination and there isn’t much intelligence attached to the agency or my committee. Besides, if I went to anyone in the agency, I have no doubt that my colleagues on the Senate committee would be briefed immediately. After that it wouldn’t take more than a few minutes for the information to become public, which would result in disaster in one way or another.”

  “Why do you think it would be a disaster?”

  “It would give our security organizations, the police, and the military the excuse they’ve been looking for to go after Muslims in the south,” he said. “Have you heard of SAF, the Special Action Force?”

  “No.”

  “It’s like Detachment 88 in Indonesia.”

  “Excuse me, but I also haven’t heard of Detachment 88,” Ava said.

&nbs
p; “It’s an elite anti-terrorist unit that was formed in 2002 in Indonesia after the Bali bombings. It’s financed and trained by the Americans, and it has earned a reputation for going beyond the law, torturing and even executing suspects and then boasting about it. The SAF is modelled after British SWAT teams. It hasn’t been quite as brazenly public about killing terrorists or suspected terrorists as Detachment 88, but they have the firepower and they’re itching to use it. I am one hundred percent sure they’re who our security people would turn to if I went to them now with these rumours we’ve heard about the college,” he said.

  He added, almost mournfully, “I promise you, they’d attack it with full force. And if there was even a hint of resistance, there would be very few survivors. And don’t think the retribution would end with the college. The politicians would use the issue to undermine the Brotherhood and other peaceful and co-operative Muslim organizations. Then, I suspect, the military would jump at the opportunity to broaden their activities in the south. They’d find some way to link the Brotherhood to the college and then they’d go after them. It would destabilize the entire region, both politically and economically.”

  “And have a harmful impact on some large pineapple plantations?”

  “We don’t deny we’re worried about that,” he said. “But — and I’m not speaking for Chang here — it isn’t my primary motivation. I want peace to continue in the south, for a great many political and humanitarian reasons. The people who live within the Autonomous Region are the most impoverished in the entire country. Any resumption of hostilities would result in economic devastation. The fact that I have a personal interest in the outcome doesn’t make my reasoning, or my objective, wrong.”

  “What is your objective?”

  “I want to maintain stability in the south. But to achieve that, we need to find out what’s going on at Zakat College, and if something is going on, who’s behind it. Once we have that information, we can make an informed decision about how to proceed.”

  “Just so I’m absolutely clear, you don’t trust your own national security agencies to do this?”

  “Not at this stage. And depending on what you find, maybe never.”

  “You’ll have to pardon me, Senator, but I do find your approach quite unorthodox and confusing.”

  “I agree. But I’ve made my position clear about the trustworthiness of our security forces, and the confusion will persist until we get some hard information,” he said. “All we have now are accounts from two young men who work at the college. They went to their local imam five days ago with a tale about terrorist training, but they didn’t provide any details or substantiation. They insisted that their identities be protected. The imam, who is a member of the Brotherhood, relayed their information to senior Brotherhood officials. They passed it on to me and I talked to Chang Wang.”

  “How long has this college been open?”

  “About a year.”

  “What does it purport to teach?”

  “All we’ve been told is that they’re training terrorists.”

  “How many terrorists are supposedly being trained?”

  “The young men didn’t supply those details.”

  “And they’re being trained to attack whom?”

  “Again, for now, we lack details.”

  “For now?”

  “The imam has persuaded the young men to be more forthcoming and to talk directly with the Brotherhood. They’re scheduled to meet tomorrow morning near Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi,” Ramirez said. “Our hope is that you will join them to question the young men and help us arrive at a real understanding of the goings-on at Zakat College.”

  “How long have you known about this meeting?”

  “It wasn’t confirmed until this morning.”

  “It sounds like it’s been in the works for longer than that.”

  “The Brotherhood has been pressing the imam for several days, but the meeting didn’t appear to be a possibility until yesterday.”

  Ava shook her head, irritated that Chang hadn’t mentioned a word about Bongao when he called her in Kunming, or after she’d arrived in Manila. “Why is it necessary that I be there? Surely the Brotherhood can handle the interview by themselves.”

  “I tried to make that point to Chang Wang, but without any success,” Ramirez said. “He isn’t the most trusting man and he doesn’t know the Brotherhood as well as I do. There’s a lot at stake. He made it clear that he wants his set of eyes and ears at any meeting that takes place.”

  Ava didn’t disagree with Ramirez’s description of Chang’s attitude, but it still irked her. “Let’s say that I do go to Bongao,” she said. “What if those young men repeat their story about terrorists and provide us with details that I find believable? What then? Don’t you still have the same dilemma around your security forces?”

  “We need facts, and until we have them it’s premature to speculate about what our best course of action might be.”

  “What other course could possibly be open to you?”

  “That might depend on who those terrorists are and what they intend to do. It’s possible that their activities extend well beyond the Philippines. If that’s the case, we might be able to interest and involve other governments.”

  “Who fits that bill?”

  Ramirez turned his gaze back to the floodlit garden, and she could see his uncertainty. “It could be anyone or no one,” he said, waving his hand almost dismissively. “We need facts. Please help us get them, and then we can decide.”

  “And you want me to do this alongside the Brotherhood? Do they know that I might be going to Bongao, or have you kept them in the dark about me?”

  “They know about you, and believe me, they’ll welcome your assistance.”

  “I assume that’s because they know Chang has insisted on my participation, and that I’ll go there with the full backing of him and Tommy Ordonez.”

  “You have my full support and backing as well,” Ramirez said.

  “If I do go,” Ava said, “how will this work? What arrangements, however tentatively, have already been made?”

  “I’m not entirely sure.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The commander of the Brotherhood is named Yasin Juhar, but everyone calls him Juhar; I doubt many people know his given name. The single name is a carryover from the days when he was leading the fight against us, positioning himself as the Philippine Che Guevara. I thought it was an affectation, but it earned him recognition and respect. He is now, without any doubt, the best-known and most powerful man in the region. I’ve known him personally for years, and I trust him completely. He’s been working with the imam to facilitate the meeting, but he won’t be present for it. His deputy, Omar Wahab — he’s usually just called Wahab — will be representing the Brotherhood.

  “As it currently stands, the plan is for you to fly to Bongao early tomorrow morning. There isn’t a direct flight from Manila, so you’ll have to go through Zamboanga City. Wahab will meet you there and accompany you to Bongao. I haven’t been briefed on what the specific plans are once you reach Tawi-Tawi. I imagine Wahab will fill in those details when he meets you at the airport.”

  “From your tone, I’m assuming that my flight reservations have already been made.”

  “We are holding seats for you on flights for tomorrow morning. Regrettably, it will necessitate an early start.”

  “How early?”

  “The plane from Manila leaves at four a.m. and connects with a six-thirty flight in Zamboanga City.”

  “Good god.”

  “I realize it’s all a bit rushed, but only one flight a day goes to Bongao. If you aren’t on it we’ll lose an entire day, and maybe risk those young men changing their minds about talking to us.” He looked at his watch. “It’s already getting late. If you’re willing to go and you wan
t to get any rest tonight, we should think about getting you to your hotel.”

  Ava sat back in her chair. “I can’t deny that you’ve got me interested, but the way you and Uncle Chang went about this comes close to infuriating me.”

  “I apologize, for both of us.”

  “I’m wondering what else I haven’t been told.”

  “I assure you that you now know everything we know. My only regret is that it’s so little,” he said.

  Ava turned her head and gazed out the window as she thought through everything she’d just been told. Ramirez seemed sincere enough, but then, he was a politician. If he was misinformed or lying to her or exaggerating, she would be wasting at least one day travelling to the southern tip of the Philippines. But even if he was misinformed or lying, she would still earn a favour from Uncle Chang and Tommy Ordonez. If Ramirez was telling the truth, how bad could the consequences be? She didn’t know, but she realized she couldn’t risk saying no to him.

  “Okay, I’ll go,” she said sharply. “But I have some conditions.”

  “Such as?”

  “Your friends at the Brotherhood have to be completely open with me. I want all the access they have and I want to hear everything they hear. No secret meetings. No behind-my-back briefings.”

  “That’s the way it will be.”

  “And I want to be involved in any discussions about what’s to be done with the information we uncover.”

  “I’m not sure —” Ramirez began, and then stopped when he saw Ava stiffen.

  “If I’m not to be part of that process, then I’m not prepared to provide you with the information that will fuel it,” she said. “Call Uncle Chang if you need his permission to agree to that condition.”