Sir, - The Irish Times Asia correspondent, Conor O Clery, is to be congratulated on his reports from Mindanao in the southern Philippines. This will have been the first time many of your readers have seen extensive media coverage of the region, even though the southern Philippines has seen conflict for the past 30 years and over 120,000 people have been killed.
Recent events here have added to a growing demonisation of Islam. And international coverage of the terrorist acts of the Abu Sayyaf group has intensified negative perceptions of the Islamic "fundamentalism".
The current fighting and the hostage crisis will have repercussions for long-term Muslim-Christian relations in the Philippines. Already the growing trust between Muslim and Christian communities in Mindanao has been fractured.
In an island of more than 16 million inhabitants, four million are Muslims. More than 3.5 million Muslims are peace-loving and unconnected to any rebel group. These people are facing a rising wave of anti-Muslim sentiment.
Some five extremist Christian vigilante groups have emerged seeking to "put an end" to the perceived Muslim-initiated problems. One group, entitled the "Alliance of Vigilant Christians for a Muslim-Free Mindanao", called last week for all Christians to arm themselves for a war against Muslims.
As an agency working with Filipino partners to foster peace and reconciliation between Muslims and Christians, Trocaire is conscious of the need to stem this rising tide of prejudice and hatred.
There are many Muslims working to build peace in Mindanao. Thousands of ordinary Muslims and Christians have taken to the streets, held inter-faith prayer rallies and issued countless appeals for peace. The Islamic community has recently added a sixth prayer time to its traditional five. This prayer is dedicated to peace and is held between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. each morning.
The commitment of such people to building trust between communities for the sake of lasting peace and unity needs to be highlighted, so that the world does not dismiss each Muslim Filipino as an extremist or a fundamentalist. - Yours, etc.,
Sarah McCan, Trocaire Project Officer, Mindanao, Southern Philippines.