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July 29, 2008
Exclusive: The Asia America Initiative: Working to Stabilize the Strategic Philippines
I am proud to serve on the board of directors of the Asia America Initiative (www.asiaamerica.org). The mission of AAI is to counter terrorism and communal violence by promoting peace and prosperity in conflict-ridden communities overseas. AAI focuses on people-to-people programs that integrate health, education, and livelihood as a basis for mediation between groups that might otherwise be tempted by radicals to resort to violence. By building hope for a better future, AAI seeks to overcome the hatred propagated by terror organizations. The success of these cost-effective models shows that empowering impoverished and conflict-plagued communities strengthens international security, stability and peace.
The main area of operations is in the Philippines, where AAI is networking private U.S. humanitarian and educational organizations with local NGOs to support the peace process in Muslim Mindanao. This area has been ravaged by civil war for some 40 years. There have been two terrorist groups of concern operating in the area. The Abu Sayyaf Group is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. It was founded by one of Osama bin Laden’s top associates, Jamal Khalifa, and initially led by Abdurajak Janjalani, a Filipino Muslim who had fought in Afghanistan. The other group is more home-grown, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is a separatist movement. It was strengthened in the 1990s by the return of Filipino-Muslim fighters from Afghanistan. The MILF welcomed the weapons and tactical training Afghan veterans provided, but local communities felt threatened by these foreign influences, and needed alternatives to hold their people together with a focus on progress rather than destruction. The AAI is working to give them that better path forward, while supporting negotiations between the MILF and the Philippine government.
The AAI Development for Peace in Sulu Project is under the authority of the Philippine President and local civic and religious leaders. It is a community-based model for quelling violence that could spill over into international conflict. These efforts are intended to enhance the quality of life, reinforce opportunities for women, and, by offering alternatives to conflict, deny terrorist networks the ability to recruit. The AAI is in the process of expanding these grassroots programs into other key communities across the region. Agricultural and fisheries development is underway in Lanao del Sur and North Cotabato provinces. The AAI’s former Country Coordinator is now Deputy Advisor to the President for the Peace Process.
In mid-May, reports of food shortages, especially rice, in many areas of Asia intensified. Food prices have soared due to poor harvests in many countries; the rising costs of fertilizer and transportation; and growing demand from emerging economies. To ease price pressure on their own people, China, India, Vietnam, and 11 other countries have limited or banned rice exports. Fifteen countries, including Pakistan and Bolivia, have capped or halted wheat exports. More than a dozen have limited corn exports. The Philippines is a major importer of rice due in large part to the disruption and lack of investment in its agricultural sector. The rising prices and restricted import trade have hit the poor southern communities hard. The Philippines need to move rapidly towards self-sufficiency and food security.
Agricultural developments in Mindanao hit another recent snag because of disputed land ownership between Muslims and Christians. AAI Director Al Santoli traveled to Sulu and to the Lake Lanao farming area to help mediate disputes. Mindanao is one of the most productive farming areas in Asia when work is not being disrupted by conflict. It could re-emerge as an Asian rice bowl, providing economic gains to local communities and a needed boost in global food supplies. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, addressing the High-Level Conference on World Food Security held in Rome on June 3rd, set a target for increasing world food production 50% by 2030. Mindanao can play its part in this effort with fresh investments in agricultural development and infrastructure.
A program to expand rice production in Lanao del Sur is underway. The plan is to have three or four cropping seasons over a 24-month period. AAI will assist family farms to develop 15-hectare plots and cooperative community farms to develop 500-hectares. There are two cooperative sites, one near Lake Lanao and the other near mountain streams where the water needed for rice farming is plentiful. The local MILF has told the AAI if agricultural expansion can allow the local people to feed themselves and earn an income from selling their surplus harvest, it will greatly advance the peace process.
The founder and director of the AAI is Al Santoli, who has devoted his life to national security issues. As a Vietnam combat veteran who served during the height of the war (25th Infantry Division, 1968-69), he earned three purple hearts but never quit the fight then or since. He has written three books on the war and its lessons: the New York Times best-selling Everything We Had, An Oral History of the Vietnam War, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize; To Bear Any Burden: The Vietnam War and Its Aftermath; and Leading the Way: How Vietnam Veterans Rebuilt the U.S. Military. He has also written for a variety of major journals. Mr. Santoli learned that the best way to defeat terror and insurgency is to stop it before it starts by addressing local concerns so that the enemy cannot exploit them.
I first met Al when we were both working on foreign policy and national security issues for members of Congress in the 1990s. We quickly discovered a common interest in Asia. Al’s expertise has been demonstrated as a guest lecturer or panelist at the U.S. Naval Academy; the Institute of World Politics; the National University of Singapore; Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; the National Defense University of the Philippines; the U.S. Army War College and the U.S. Marine Corps University. He has been a Senior Fellow at Freedom House and has served on the Asia Advisory Board of the International Republican Institute.
The Philippines is a pivot point in Asia. Bringing peace and stability to the Muslim areas is only part of the story. The islands are just as strategic now as when the United States held them as a colony and a major military base during the 20th century. They sit astride the sea lanes along the Pacific Rim and block the eastward exits from the South China Sea. This is why the islands were a battleground in World War II. Bataan and Corregidor won their gallant places in history during the Allied defeats of 1942. The U.S. lost 10,380 more soldiers while liberating the Philippines in 1945, plus additional sailors and pilots fighting at sea. Today, the islands form a geographical barrier to China’s global ambitions - something Beijing is working to overcome by increasing its own influence in the islands. Americans have both a moral and strategic interest in helping the Philippine people progress. The Asia America Initiative, which is a private endeavor sustained by donations, deserves the support of all those who want to see U.S. leadership continue in the Pacific.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor William Hawkins is Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the U.S. Business and Industry Council in Washington, DC. E-mail him at HawkinsUSA@aol.com.
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