PRESS RELEASE
August 14, 2007
PRESS RELEASE
Esmael D. Kiram II
Reigning Sultan of Sulu
Assalamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Ta’ala Wal Baraqa!
We are distressed by the renewed conflict that has broken in Jolo and in other areas. We are distressed that we cannot see an end to it now and in the near future. We are more than distressed that the cost of the conflict in lives and resources has not contributed to peace but has compounded the war. It has not brought us basic health but has added to the crises with the displacement of the population. It has not provided us with sanitary facilities but has exposed us to danger with our steady relocations. It has not given us real livelihood but has driven us to subsistence living under desperate conditions. It has not given us the ability to pursue life, liberty and happiness, the bedrocks of human existence!
On behalf of the men, women, and children of Sulu, may I call on the RAYAT to exercise restraint, to not give anyone the excuse to fire a single bullet or harsh word against us. I call on the RAYAT to practice non-violent resistance on behalf of our impoverished state. I call on the RAYAT to rise above our inequities and take a personal role for our future by fighting for peace with peace. Let those who fire the first bullet against us become visible in our non-violence so that the perpetrators of tragedy can be confronted by the laws that are intended to protect us.
The future of our people and our culture are at stake. It is time to demand peace together or we shall perish together and all those who have perished in the battle for peace shall have died in vain.
May GOD bless the Philippines!
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