Delay of Marawi rehab could show gov’t does not care about Muslims: Bangsamoro official
Bangsamoro Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said Wednesday the rehabilitation of Marawi is essential and its delay could convey to people who laid siege on it that the government does not care about Muslims.
“I think, on one hand, and we’ve raised this several times…that the rehabilitation of Marawi is essential to sustain yung victory in 2017 that we’ve declared,” Sinarimbo told ANC.
“If this one gets delayed, the people that laid siege on Marawi…will say, ‘You look the government does not care about you. And that all along we’ve been correct in saying we need that we need to fight this government because this government does not care about Muslims.’ Which is why it is imperative to rehabilitate Marawi. Allow its people to rebuild the city. The government should really deliver on its commitments,” he added.
Sinarimbo said extremist groups are trying to show that violence is the only way to make the government notice Marawi’s state.
“It’s still part of the overall design of the violent extremist groups to portray a situation where it can justify its actions that the government does not care and it only cares if it is threatened. Therefore the means of achieving our goal is really violence. They don’t believe in negotiated settlements, in peace processes,” he said.
According to Sinarimbo, the national government should allocate funds not only for intelligence but also to create jobs and boost economic activities in Mindanao.
“My sense is that we really need to take a look at the lay of the ground in Mindanao. So we are slowly defeating, in major ways, the violent extremist group…So there has been transformation in the region. We need to sustain this by looking at really supporting livelihood, job opportunities, and creating economic activities in the different areas of the region. So we really have to support these things,” Sinarimbo said.
“The spending of government should look at other priorities other than supporting intelligence work. While intelligence work is important, it is also important that this is linked to not just preventing attacks of this type but also making sure that people feel development is happening and they now have a future. Because that’s the only guarantee that people will care about people’s lives and their community that they have a future. If you don’t see a future that’s good for you and your children, it’s easy for you to succumb to the ideology of violence,” he said.
The rehabilitation of Marawi began in October 2017 after the end of a five-month war between the government’s security forces and extremist groups that were connected with the Islamic State, including the Maute and Abu Sayyaf Salafi jihadist groups. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
