(Message of Robert Maulana Marohombsar Alonto during the launch of Datu Michael Ong Mastura’s book, The Rulers of Magindanao in Modern History 1515-1903: Continuity and Change in a Traditional Realm in the Southern Philippines, at the Grand Pagana Hall in Cotabato City on 13 April 2023. Alonto is Commissioner at the Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)
Bismillah ar Rahman ar Rahiim
Assalamo ‘alaykom wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuho.
Good afternoon.
When I received yesterday the invitation of Kaka Datu Mike Mastura to attend the book launching today, what immediately came to my mind was – I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
I broached to Ruh yesterday morning at breakfast in Cagayan de Oro the prospect of driving to Cotabato City to attend Kaka Mike’s book launching, and without blinking an eye his spontaneous reply was – “Let’s go!”.
I thought he wanted to make the overland trip to Cotabato to justify breaking his fast as a musafir,but no, he told me he had to go because he wants Kaka Mike to autograph the book he purchased from the Ateneo Press. Ruh once taught history in a state university in Cagayan de Oro and he looks up to his Bapa Mike as his guro, if you will, when it comes to scholarship and Moro history.
The launching of Kaka Mike’s book, “The Rulers of Magindanao in Modern History, 1515-1903” is a much-awaited event. When Ruh made an advance purchase from Ateneo Press, he was able to get only one copy because he was told there were limited copies.
I posted the book on my Facebook page to inform both friends and relatives in Ranao about it, and I received so many queries by text as to how they can secure a copy. I said they should try online bookstores or the Ateneo Press. I didn’t know then that there was going to be a book launching in Cotabato until our good friend, Member of Parliament Atty. Mary Ann Arnado, told us about it in a reply to a query on Facebook.
If Kaka Mike’s book were a movie, the Hollywood producers of John Wick 4 would have a run for their money.
Indeed, for history buffs like us, Kaka Mike’s book is significantly a much welcome scholarly-written reference material on a subject matter very close to our hearts: Bangsamoro history. His book, “The Rulers of Magindanao,” in fact comes at a very timely moment when the Mindanao State University and the Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (BCPCH) are about to operationalize their partnership in the writing of Bangsamoro history from the perspective of the Bangsamoro any time after Ramadhan.
Let me digress a bit. For your information, the writing of Bangsamoro history from the perspective of the Bangsamoro is the primary responsibility of the BCPCH. This is in the Bangsamoro Organic Law and the Bangsamoro Administrative Code, but the idea originated from the peace negotiation wherein Kaka Mike and I served as senior members of the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) Peace Negotiating Panel.
Note again the defining phraseology: Bangsamoro history from the Moro perspective. Why from the Moro perspective? There is an old African saying that “Unless the lion learns to write, all stories glorify the hunter.” Writing Bangsamoro history from the perspective of the Moro is the “lion” writing his story not to earn glorification but for Truth.
“The Rulers of Magindanao in Modern History” is authored not just by any Moro from a Moro standpoint but by THE Michael Mastura, the Moro from the bloodline of our illustrious ancestor, Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Qudarat, and whose inimitable erudition is an institution in Moro scholarship – the ‘lion’ who writes our stories – and is thus the pride of the Bangsamoro people.
Kaka Mike: Thank you for writing and publishing this book.
Ramadhan Mubarak.
Wassalamo ‘alaykom wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuho.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Robert Maulana Marohombsar Alonto was a member of the peace panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that negotiated the Framework Agreement of the Bangsamoro signed in 2012 and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed in 2014. He was also a member of the Bangsamoro Transition. Commission that drafted the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law that Congress during the Aquino administration failed to pass. Alonto is presently Commissioner for Lanao del Sur of the Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Alonto posted this piece on his FB page on 27 November 2022. MindaNews was granted permission to publish this)
