Police eye Filipino Muslims with suspicion
Authorities believe that new converts more likely to be
terrorists than those born into the faith GEOFFREY YORK writes
theglobeandmail.com
By GEOFFREY YORK
Saturday, November 23, 2002 – Page A20
MANILA -- When Joey Ledesma announced he had become a Muslim, his mother threw him out of their house.
Until then, he was perceived as a card-carrying member of the Philippines establishment.
He was the scion of one of Manila's most prominent Roman Catholic families. He lived in a luxurious villa in an exclusive neighbourhood. A close relative was the Philippine ambassador to Washington.
Baptized a Christian and immersed in Manila's U.S.-dominated pop culture, he scarfed down hamburgers at McDonald's and ran a real-estate business while working on a doctorate from a U.S. university.
But these days, he does not call himself Joey.
His new name is Abdullah Yusuf Abu Bakr Ledesma. He has grown a scraggly beard, and he spends most of his time studying the Koran, praying at a mosque and defending Muslim terrorist suspects.
Mr. Ledesma, in his early 40s, is one of an estimated 100,000 Filipinos who have become Muslims in recent years. Many are filled with a deep anti-Western anger, and police allege that some have become terrorists with links to al-Qaeda.
One recent Muslim convert was arrested on charges of planting a bomb that killed six people in a restaurant in the southern Philippines last year. Police said they found bomb-making equipment in his house, but he was acquitted because the police had failed to obtain a search warrant.
Other new believers have been the repeated target of police raids, including several who were accused of running a military training camp with links to the al-Qaeda network. Philippine investigators allege that Muslim converts are more likely to become terrorists than those born into the faith.
With the zeal of someone who recently discovered his true calling, Mr. Ledesma defends his newfound religion from what he sees as a global attack. He has spent the past few months lobbying for the freedom of Filipino Muslims jailed on terrorism charges. He is convinced that many Muslims are unfairly imprisoned on flimsy evidence. But he does not deny that some Muslim converts may have turned to violence.
"We are part of one big brotherhood, and we are wrongfully under attack," he said. "If things get worse in the Philippines and around the world, I wouldn't doubt that among a hundred acquaintances of mine, several would take the route of armed conflict. If we are pushed to the wall, we will fight back. We have the right to defend ourselves."
Mr. Ledesma said he became a Muslim for spiritual reasons.
"I really like praying five times a day. You really feel close to Allah. Praying five times a day is a jihad against yourself, which is the greatest jihad of all."
His conversion was also a step toward liberating himself from Western influence.
"I felt that everything about me was controlled by the West," he said. "I ate in McDonald's. I had an American accent for a long time. But in my heart, in my soul, I didn't want to be controlled by the West."
He had always resented the Caucasian images of God and Jesus in the Catholic churches of his childhood.
"You feel like second-class citizens," he said. "Catholicism in the Philippines is so closely tied to the West. Many people want an identity separate from the West, but they still want to have God. Islam is an ideology of liberation, with God."
His staunch Catholic mother, who threw him out of the house last year, allowed him back after a week. But at dinner, she often criticizes his religion.
He was pointedly excluded from a social function for his mother's cousin, the ambassador to the United States, when he returned to Manila this year.
A former university teacher, Mr. Ledesma is the spokesman for the Balik Islam Unity Congress, established last month to represent Muslim converts in the Philippines. He said the group has thousands of members.
Many Filipinos became Muslims for pragmatic financial reasons while working on construction or as labourers in the Middle East. Others have more complex reasons.
One of the country's most famous actors, Robin Padilla, became a Muslim while serving a prison sentence for illegal firearms possession.
Mr. Ledesma said he has court papers to disprove the police allegation that a military training camp with an arsenal of heavy weaponry had been established at a school for Muslim converts on a farm north of Manila.
"If we were terrorists, we would be underground, not above ground," he said.
He rejects the assertion of Philippine investigators that converts are more prone to terrorism.
"When you choose to convert, instead of being born into the religion, it does add a little zeal -- but not necessarily violence.
"For me, bombing a bus is a problem because it doesn't follow the Koran, which says you shouldn't hurt innocent people." |
