The religious factor in three minority movements

Abstract

This article looks at three minority subnationalist communities among the Philippine Muslims in the predominantly Christian Philippines; among the Malay Muslims in predominantly Buddhist Thailand; and among the largely Christian and traditional-religious people of Irian /aya (West PapuaJ in predominantly Muslim Indonesia. It observes similarities and differences in the three movements and in their relations with their respective national governments, and compares the three movements with respect to the role of religion in defining the separatist movement; the importance of international linkages; and the tendency to fragmentation. In the Thai case, historical circumstances created a sense of a Patani identity which Islam reinforced, but the Muslim identity also created important linkages with the people of Peninsular Malaysia which initially directed the irredentist ambitions of the Patani people and later provided a basis for some support for the Patani separatist demands. For the Moro, Islam provided a unifying factor, defining an ethnic identity which at least partially superseded smaller ethnic-linguistic divisions. In both cases, but especially the case of the Moro, religion also linked the minority populations with a larger ummah (community) and influenced the nature and effectiveness of the struggle. In the case of the West Papuans, Christianity has not provided a significant unifying factor; even though some OPM leaders are fundamentalist Christians they have defined their struggle in cultural rather than religious terms and have received only limited support from Christian organizations. None of the majority populations — Christian, Buddhist or Muslim — has been particularly sensitive to the feelings of the minority, but the degree of intrusion into and repression of the minorities seems to have had more to do with differences between strong, centralizing states and weak states than with religious tolerance. The three case studies also highlight the persistent and pronounced tendency of movements to divide along personal, ideological, and smaller ethnic divides. Show more