Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia Melanjutkan Kehidupan Islam
In their official website and also reported by many media, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) that belongs to the Philippine government has released a recent report on March 31st, that said 944 families (or 4,983 people) have fled Sabah in Malaysia and sought refuge in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi (Basulta) in the Philippines. Of the 4,983 displaced persons, 2080 were children. Previously on March 11th, The Philippine Star reported that pregnant women and children of Philippino Muslims, who have been living in Sabah for years, were also hunted and killed by the Malaysian military because they were considered as part of the Tausug tribe. Many people of this tribe are known as members of the Sulu Sultanate. Similarly the Indonesian daily, Republika, even reported that a teenage boy was shot dead by Malaysian police on the previous day. However the Police Commissioner of the Sabah region -Datuk Hamza Taib- took this shooting lightly as highlighted by his statement that described the boy as the same as a terrorist.
In the armed conflict in Lahad Datu-Sabah, Muslim women and children have clearly been amongst the victims. This was the result of the Malaysian government deploying thousands of troops with its jet aircrafts in the name of hunting the loyalists of the Sulu Sultanate. It considers the Sulu sultanate as a foreign entity that had invaded their territory in Sabah, while for the Sultan of Sulu, their arrival in Sabah was part of the sultanate’s effort to reclaim Sabah, because they felt betrayed and abandoned in the peace process between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The great number of casualties clearly showed the true face of the Malaysian government which indicates that the blood of Muslims does not mean anything to them when compared to safeguarding the country’s nationalistic territorial boundary that according to them has been intruded by the Muslims of Sulu. Malaysia did not even hesitate to sacrifice the blood of Muslim women and children. This is ironic because the Malaysian state often portrays itself as a vocal Muslim country that voices the interests of Muslims, including Palestinians and Muslim minorities in Southeast Asia.
The Corrosive Impact of Malaysia’s Nationalism
The Sabah Crisis is highly related to the oppression of Muslim minorities in Southeast Asia and the long history of Western colonialism in this region. Western colonialism in Southeast Asia resulted in the disunity of the Ummah, oppression of Muslim minorities, and colonization of natural resources through the treachery of the Muslim leaders in the region. It caused the unity of Muslims in the archipelago to be ripped apart due to nationalism and independence of the nation-state entity in the 20th century. It was the Madrid Protocol that robbed Sabah from the Sulu Sultanate in 1885, and handed it over to the British Empire to be its protectorate or colony. Subsequently, Britain handed Sabah over to Malaysia through the Cobbold Commission in 1963, although Malaysia still has had to pay rent to the Sulu Sultanate as much as $1,500 (IDR 14.5 million) per year for the land area of 7300 hectares in Sabah until today. Therefore, today’s dispute between Malaysia and the Sulu Sultanate over Sabah is closely related to the British imperialist conspiracy of that time.
Malaysia, as one of the Muslim majority countries in this region, seems to still play a role as a colonial remnant of the Western imperialists. Malaysia is clearly not willing to give even an inch of the land of Sabah to Philippino Muslims, but at the same time it is obviously willing to leave the land of Muslims in Mindanao and Pattani to be occupied by the Kuffar and turn a blind eye to the oppression of Muslim minorities there. More than 120,000 Moro Muslims have been killed in the Southern Philippines during the past 40 years, and at least 5500 lives of Pattani Muslims have been lost in Southern Thailand over the last 9 years. Malaysia has done nothing to liberate these lands and maintain the honor of Muslims in Pattani, Sulu, and Mindanao except with lip service diplomatic effort that is submissive to foreign interests. In contrast, Malaysia has exerted every effort in deploying seven battalions of combat forces to maintain its control over the land in Sabah, fighting hundreds of armed civilian groups that are actually their brothers in Islam and turned a blind eye toward the casualties of women and children.
The actions of the Malaysian government are driven by the corrosive concept of “Nationalism” where ones national origin becomes the basis of bonding the people rather than the Islamic belief. It is a harmful ideal where protecting national borders and interests become the foundation of the state’s foreign policy and reasoning behind mobilizing its army, resulting in the abandoning of Muslims facing oppression in other countries as well as the killing of Muslims from other nations when national interests dictate its necessity. Nationalism is a fake bond and false identity for Muslims which was part of the strategy of the West to divide the Muslim Ummah by dismantling the Khilafah Uthmaniyah in Turkey in 1924. And this corrupted bond actually gave rise to the multiple puppet rulers and varied systems for Muslims in Southeast Asia and the rest of the Muslim world, including the government of Malaysia who has the heart to fight their own Muslim brothers. The cult of the nation-state system has blinded Malaysia and encouraged it to run foreign policy based solely on their despicable national interests.
And the fake drama continues. Malaysia continues to portray itself as the guardian of Islam and defender of Muslim minorities. Last October, Malaysia mediated the signing of a peace agreement in the southern Philippines that has been pursued from 15 years ago, and would form a new autonomous area in that region in 2016. In fact, this peace agreement has become a catastrophe of disunity for Muslims, sparking the Sabah crisis that caused bloodshed of the Ummah. Ironically in the same week as the Sabah conflict, Malaysia re-started its role in trying to create peace for the Muslim minority in southern Thailand which has begun on March 28th. What a hypocritical role! What a lip service! The truth is the Malaysian government has violated the Muslim brotherhood by the bloodshed of its own brothers in Sabah.
The Khilafah Will Liberate and Unite Sabah and the Sulu as Part of One Islamic Land
Islam teaches that the strongest bond for Muslims is the Islamic Aqeedah and is manifested in Islamic Ukhuwah (brotherhood), rejecting the bond of ethnicity, race, or the color of skin. Islam loudly denounces and forbids assabiyah (the tribalistic bond) that includes nationalism to be used as the identity of Muslims rather than the brotherhood of Islam (Islamic ukhuwah). Allah (swt) says:
(( إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ…))
“Indeed the believers are brothers.” [TMQ al-Hujurat [49]: 10]
The battle between the military of Malaysia against followers of the Sulu sultanate in Sabah is defined as ignorant (jahiliyya) fighting, as we see in the following hadith which denounces the one who acts on assabiyah as ignorance:
“وَمَنْ قَاتَلَ تَحْتَ رَايَةٍ عِمِّيَّةٍ يَغْضَبُ لِعَصَبَةٍ أَوْ يَدْعُو إِلَى عَصَبَةٍ أَوْ يَنْصُرُ عَصَبَةً فَقُتِلَ فَقِتْلَةٌ جَاهِلِيَّةٌ”
The Prophet said: “Whoever is killed while under a flag of ignorance, getting angry for the sake of tribalism or fighting for the sake of tribalism or calling to tribalism then his death is that of jahiliyya.” (Ahmed)
Islam obliges Muslims to live under one political leadership – the Khilafah. It is forbidden for them to be under fragmented political leaderships and different rulers and states as we see today. Prophet Muhammad (saw) once said:
“إِذَا بُويِعَ لِخَلِيفَتَيْنِ فَاقْتُلُوا الْآخَرَ مِنْهُمَا”
“When the oath of allegiance has been taken for two Caliphs, kill the latter of them.” (Sahih Muslim).
Therefore the Khilafah will unite the Sabah region and the Sulu archipelago, the huge territory of Indonesia and Malaysia, and all the lands of Muslims all over the world. The Khilafah will also free the lands of the Muslims in Myanmar, southern Philippines, and southern Thailand, and will be a shield for the honor of the Muslims, including Muslim women and children in all regions of the Khilafah state.
The Khilafah with its noble foreign policy vision will never let any region of Muslims to fall into the hands of the Kuffar and will never accept deceiving imperialist treaties. It will mobilize its army for the sake of Islam and the protection of Muslims rather than for the sake of narrow selfish interests. It will end the weak foreign policy of the Muslim countries that are based upon submission to the West, nationalism and the betrayal of the Western puppet rulers. The Khilafah will replace it with a noble foreign policy to spread the noble da’wah of Islam to the whole world by the method of da’wah and jihad.
((وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَآءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ إِلَّا تَفْعَلُوهُ تَكُن فِتْنَةٌۭ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَفَسَادٌۭ كَبِيرٌۭ))
“And those who disbelieve are allies to one another, (and) if you (Muslims of the whole world collectively) do not do so (i.e. become allies, as one united block with one Khalifah – chief Muslim ruler for the whole Muslim world to make victorious Allâh’s Religion of Islâmic Monotheism), there will be Fitnah (wars, battles, polytheism, etc.) and oppression on earth, and a great mischief and corruption.” [TMQ Al-Anfal 8:73]
Fika M. Komara, M.Si
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
