By Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY, Philippines, August 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – An undaunted quest to bring peace to the conflict-hugged island of Mindanao, the birthplace of Islam in the Philippines, has earned three Filipino Muslims a deserved nomination for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

Hadja Bainon Guiabar Karon, a 52-year-old peace activist, and Zenaida Tan Lim, a community organizer, and Piang Tahsim Albar, an inter-faith dialogue advocate, are the only Muslims among eight Mindanao Filipino women nominated for the prestigious prize.

In all, there are twenty-one Filipino women among the 1,000 women worldwide nominated for the prize.

They were chosen by the Swiss-initiated project "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005" based on their exemplary, sustainable and long-term works, which are worthy of emulation.

The nominees fulfilled the criteria of employing and promoting active, non-violent responses to conflict situations, structural injustices and inequalities, leading by example, and acting with moral courage and responsibility.

The Swiss-initiated project "intends to make visible women's efforts to counter injustice, discrimination, oppression, and violence."

The peace prize is one of five Nobel prizes requested by Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel, who said in his will that the award shall go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Martyrdom

Karon, the widow of a Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) general, has lost her husband and five brothers to the Bangsamoro struggle.

She sees her nomination as an "encouragement" not only to herself but to the Bangsamoro people she serves.

"It represents the martyrdom of thousands of men and women, including children, who fought and struggled for the cause of the Bangsamoro," Karon told IslamOnline.net.

The nomination, she believes, is also "a means of empowering the Bangsamoro women" that "gives us hope to our creed for a lasting peace and prosperity in Muslim Mindanao."

The southern island of Mindanao has been battered by fierce fighting between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), seeking an independent Islamic state for the Bangsamoro people since the 1970s.

Revolutionary

At 18, Karon joined the Bangsamoro struggle by becoming the secretary-general of the Federation of Muslim Students and shortly after helped in the propaganda and medical aid.

She became the vice chair of MNLF Women's Committee in 1971 while chairing the Committee on Women of the Kutawatu State Revolutionary Committee.

In 1977, she married Datu Ibrahim Sema, then-commander of the MNLF fighters in central and southern Mindanao regions.

He was "martyred" five years later leaving her with two children.

But Karon "kept the flame of the revolution alive in her heart."

Four years later, she headed the MNLF Women's Committee, becoming a member of the MNLF Central Committee, the front's governing body.

Community Building

When the MNLF sealed a peace accord with the Philippine government in 1996, Karon went on to serve as a division head of the Department of Agriculture in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Consultative Assembly member of the Southern Philippine Council for Peace and Development.

She told IOL that the peace accord also gave birth to the Federation of the United Mindanawan Bangsamoro Women Multipurpose Cooperative, a people's organization with 137 member cooperatives "operating on the principle of proactive participation of women in peace-building and development."

Under her chairwomanship, the Federation promoted capability-building on good governance, strengthened the Bangsamoro women cooperatives, established good linkages, enhanced entrepreneurship abilities, preserved Bangsamoro women's cultural identity and strengthened linkage of member cooperatives to funding agencies.

"Providing sustainability and economic empowerment to the Bangsamoro people are mechanisms in helping build justice and peace," Karon said during a media launch of her nomination on June 29.

"Their accessibility to equal opportunities is the mainstream of my commitment be it in the political, social, cultural and economic sphere."

In 2002, she was appointed regional secretary of the ARMM Department of Social Welfare and Development, which she steered to become the most outstanding regional agency.

Without funds, Karon mobilized the 240 DSWD-ARMM personnel and linked them with the national government, national and international NGOs to "promptly and efficiently" bring services to the people.

Most notable of her initiatives is the DSWD-ARMM Emergency Assistance Program which assisted in the last three years 609,328 people displaced by armed conflicts, deportation from Malaysia and natural calamities, and constructed 2,369 core shelters.

Karon believes her DSWD-ARMM appointment "widened my opportunity to help our people" particularly to the less-privileged and war victims.

She recalls that her struggle, which earned her the prestigious nomination, involved "tears and blood and bundles of sacrifices."

Keeping her determination is "my true love for peace and justice, and a deep concern for the human race intensified by a pledge of lifelong commitment to work for the Bangsamoro people."

Service Provider

Mindanao community organizer Zenaida Tan Lim felt "a sense of achievement" with the Nobel nomination.

"In our country, in the Muslim-dominated area in Mindanao, there are so many things that need to be done," she told IOL.

"The war that raged for three decades has left thousands of Muslim families homeless, orphaned and widowed," she regretted.

Lim also lamented that social services are "rare and leave much to be desired".

"Education has left thousands of Muslim ignorant and illiterate in the English language. Arabic lessons are under suspect to be used as Islamic fundamentalist teachings. Political leadership and direction hit rock bottom, and have given rise to more political instability and unrest."

The peace worker and community organizer complained that "forces that impede are more than the forces that support and encourage social uplift. We try to do our best in the little that we can do."

In the early 19902, Lim set up the Sarang Bangun Foundation for the rehabilitation of widows and orphans of victims of the conflict between the MNLF and Manila.

With a groundswell of funds from donor agencies, the Foundation was able to establish livelihood and skills training programs, an orphan care center in Sulu (with assistance from the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), and the Sarang Bangun Learning Center in Zamboanga City, making quality elementary education accessible to the Muslim community.

Doing More

Lim believes the Nobel nomination means more encouragement and an impetus to do more.

"There is no stopping social involvement: every chance we get some children to learn how to read, through our small school or through our extension efforts, we simply do it. The challenge is how to make the best of what we have and how to share it."

Peace, to her, is a "multi-dimensional process" and "a multi-layered task."

She emphasized that doing "peace work is to understand that each little action, each little act one does, must be consistent with the entire process and task of peace."

Lime went on: "I have always thought that when I started to share my life with the rest of the community, I have decided to view my world in terms of sharing the little acts and deeds with as many people as I can and with any given time."

She believes her mission in life is to "make people realize that all of us, all of humanity, must bear the burden of sharing, giving, and living together.

"All directions in our lives must be towards this end. All visions must see the unity of men in peace, because peace is sustainable, attainable, and certainly desirable."

Educator

Piang Tahsim Albar, 55, was arrested in 1974 on suspicion of being a MNLF member.

After a brief detention, the community worker was put in the custody of nuns, where the idea of inter-faith dialogue as a way of resolving conflict germinated.

With a core of Muslim women volunteers, she founded in 1985 the Amanat Foundation to provide basic education to adult learners, particularly women.

She devoted her life to the education for girls and women and fostering religious understanding.

"I want to educate our own people for education is the best means to transform them for the better," she said after her nomination.

"It enhances human understanding and relationships, and strengthens faith and closeness to God."

Source : http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-08/26/article02.shtml