Pirates? What Pirates? - Part 2
09 November 2008 | Samal, Gulf of Davao, Philippines
Wiskun
The following is a little bit of history on why the word "PIRATE" is linked to the Sulu Seas and Muslims, even to this day.
For centuries, pirates prey on ships and vessels passing through Southeast Asia. Unlike in some countries, where piracy grew and developed much from poverty and lawlessness, in the Sulu Sea, piracy was a way of life, a career and considered the "profession of a gentleman". Probably as early as the first century before the Christian era, the Moros first landed in Sulu. The Moros, properly classified as Malayan-Mongoloid, were Indonesian pagans and were the true Oceanic Malays. Under the command of their war chief, and a fleet of praos, they arrived in the island of Sulu and thus started the first migration of the Mongoloids into Philippine seas. With great tragedy, these warlords of the sea drove the brown Indo-Australians to suffer the same fate as their predecessors, the black Negritoes. They quickly gained control all of the coastlines of Mindanao and the Sulu group of islands, and gradually spread northward. Moros have always been the people of the sea. They pirated the coasts, plundered and destroyed anything that crossed their paths, thus earning the title "amphibian warlords of the Pacific".
For 15 centuries, the moros faced attacks and combated successfully against all forces from all corners - mainly different regions of the east. The white men who came in as explorers became "accidents" in these fights. It was not until the 1400s when the Mohammedan missionaries arrived. They seeked gold and riches not, but just the privilege of preaching the Koran and converting non-believers. The Moros were easily converted and the battle cry quickly became "There is no God, but Allah". In the year 1450, Abu Bakr arrived and married the daughter of Baguinda. Upon the death of his father-in-law, he proclaimed himself as the first Sultan of Sulu (king and ruler). With Islamization, the words Moro and Muslim became intertwined, generally referring to non-Christians.
The Sulu pirates were not casual opportunists nor were they a disorganized group. They had fortified forts in strategic locations, well-trained in hand-to-hand conflicts, warfare and had weapons consisting of krises (wavy-edged swords), simbilans (bamboo spears), barongs (knives), campilans (2-handed swords) and the lantakas (brass swivel canons). When they attack, they showed no mercy. They were horrible. There were 2 types of pirates under the sanction of the Sultan. First, were the armed forces of the Sultan. Under the command of a Datu (chief), these naval forces were sent to conduct raids to enrich the coffers of the Sultan and to add to his harem. The second type developed naturally with the formation of the privateers which conducted forays and the Sultan was paid a commission from the spoils.
The Spaniards failed in their attempts to colonize most of Mindanao and the Sulu group. As part of the armed resistance against Spain, the pirates played a valuable role as naval aids to the land forces of the Moros against the Spaniards. The Spanish-Moro struggles was a religious war between 2 fanatics that carried on for 3 centuries.
The Moros were unable to spread Mohammedanism north due to the Spanish stronghold, and their power remained limited to islands in the south - mainly the southern islands and western coastlines of Mindanao. During this time, the Moros quickly turned back to a condition of Feudalism, with several datus (rulers) holding power to each of their regions. There was a terrible state of chaos, outlaw, banditry and the resurgence of piracy. Nowhere can anyone hide from the Moro attacks.
In 1898, the Americans arrived and Spain ceded to the United States the territories of the Philippines on December 10, 1898. Upon arrival of the Americans in Mindanao, the Muslims saw another "invader" coming to take their "land". To them, Spain had sold their territories without their knowledge, and there was still the question of validity of Spain owning Moroland. For about 17 years, there were armed conflicts against the Americans, but the weaponry of the Moros proved no match against the armaments of the Americans. On March 22, 1915, an agreement was finally signed where the Sultanate ceded to the American rule over the Moro people. In return, the Americans recognized the Sultan as the supreme head of the Mohammedan church and guaranteed the Moro people absolute religious freedom. By giving them autonomy to their religion, the Americans were successful in establishing peace and order where the Spaniards failed.
Photo credit: Weapons of the Moros - www.gutenberg.org