Dear CRCS & ICRS students, faculty and guests, We kindly invite you to participate in the CRCS & ICRS Wednesday Forum of this week. Wednesday forum will have Mucha-Shim Quiling Arquiza (Ph.D. Student, ICRS-Yogya) as the speaker who will talk about “From Mission to Transformation: Dialogic encounter of peoples of faith in the bleeding Promised Land.” Some information about this forum can be read as follows.
Date: Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Time: 12.30 pm – 2.30 pm (free lunch)
Venue: Room 306, UGM Graduate School Teknika Utara, Pogung
Speaker: Mucha-Shim Quiling Arquiza
Abstract:
In Mindanao and Sulu (Philippines), dialogue among peoples of faith has been one of the most resilient social movements for justice and peace. The years from 1970 1970–2000, roughly spanning 30 years has been a phase considered to be most fruitful of interfaith encounters. Among the gains of Mindanao Mindanao–Sulu peoples’ movements have been three peace processes (i.e. two failed and one stalled), and most significant of which is the affirmation of the multi–cultural multi–religious Mindanao–Sulu as a shared homeland to three peoples: the Bangsamoro Muslims, the indigenous Lumad and settler Christians’ all, proud as Mindanawon. Many attempts are made to draw lessons and distill replicable formula from this rich experience. This one–a mere grain of sand in the heap, started as humble effort at preserving communal memory by reconstructing the story of Mindanao Mindanao–Sulu interfaith experience from first-hand accounts. Yet the project proved to be more complicated and challenging than first assumed, with much remaining an “to be discussed later” (i.e. with intended pun in reference to the final last words in all the provisions of GRP e GRP-MNLF Tripoli agreement of 1979) and remaining “to be seen” as history continues in its progress. A tentative framework is hereby offered describing dialogue as a social process “from mission to transformation”, where attention is called to the dialectic of personal transformation and sociopolitical reformation, the first being an internal experience and the later, external process. The twin– formula’s simplified thesis is that the precursor of change is a transformed self, that is, a grounded self that has become “in–touch”, and, having known and, re-claimed its interiority [i.e. fil. loob or kalooban], centers itself in creation and re-creation processes; social change as a reborn reality is delivered through co-creation with others who are equally vigilant and persevering peoples of faith. Indeed, the path to peace is a river of thorny banks and meandering streams where one could get lost or digress from track or get side-swiped by a passing fancy, that victories in small battles, lull or slack in fighting should not be mistaken for the end of war and “mission accomplished”? but only as signs and inspiration that dialogic culture is alive, and that the movement must continue transforming lives and striving to win the greater jihad.
On the left side of the photo is a typical lumah dilaut or Sama Dilaut stilt-hut juxtaposed at the right with the oldest langgal or Muslim prayer hall in Kampung Baru, Rio Hondo, Zamboanga City. Built probably in the 1930’s cooperatively by aboriginal maritime communities of ZamboangaCity, the Muslim Sama Balangingi, and animistic and ancestor-worshiping Sama Dilaut, at the time when the latter started leaving their sea-nomadic life and building sedentary communities in the mangroves of Rio Hondo. In the 1970’s it used to have a three-tiered minaret resembling that of classical sufi masjid architecture commonly found in Indonesia or Malaysia until it was renovated by the Tausug, a later-migrant group from Sulu, who were resettled from conflict-affected areas in the south by Imelda Marcos under her New Society housing and resettlement project for MNLF rebel returnees. The masjid has since become exclusively used and managed by the Tausug who also introduced more purist and fundamentalist Islam. Since then, there had been no Sama Dilaut among its jama’a. In 2007, the structure was completely washed away by a tsunami and stories are circulating of plans by local village officials, the Barangay council who are mostly Tausug, to rebuild with funds from the USAID-Greater Equity for Mindanao GEM program.
Registration:
The forum is free of charge and on a first-come-first serve basis.
About the Speaker:
Mucha-Shim Quiling Arquiza is a Ph.D. Student, ICRS-Yogya. She is from Philippines.
Contact Persons:
Elis Z. Anis (ICRS): elis236.andri@yahoo.com,elis@ugm.ac.id; Lina Pary (CRCS): lina_pary@yahoo.com; Maria Ingrid (CRCS/ICRS): ingridita@gmail.com.
(JMI)