Home is Where the Heart Aches

So in case you live under a rock and didn't know, the southern parts of the Philippines (Sulu) have been going on and on about how Sabah (the state where I'm from) actually belong to them, not to Malaysia. According to my fantastic research skills of extracting information from here and there and everywhere, this is the history:

A long long time ago, Sabah use to belong to Brunei, along with Manila. Then when Spain took over Manila, Brunei made a deal with Sulu. The deal was that Sulu helps Brunei to take back what was rightfully theirs (Manila), and Brunei will give Sabah to Sulu as a thanks offering. Sulu never did assisted Brunei in the end, but acknowledged that they own Sabah. So at that time, Sabah was caught in between Brunei and Sulu. Then the British came and took over Sabah, then Japan took over Sabah and chased the British away. The British came back, defeated the Japanese and made Sabah, Sarawak, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore into a nation: Malaysia. Shortly after, Singapore was segregated from Malaysia due to political disagreements. Since 1963 when Sabah became a part of Malaysia, Sulu has been claiming their rights on Sabah.

Recently though (like last week), the Sulu people have taken more drastic measures to claim Sabah as theirs, though shootouts, ambush and hostages in Lahad Datu (a town in Sabah). In a week, they spread to 2 other towns. Blood have been shed, heroes brutally murdered, hostages on both ends, fear in the people's hearts etc.

Although the policemen in Sabah are trying all they can to defend our state, it's getting incredibly tough and scary. Thing is, no one know for sure where the Sulu people are, because they look like one of us, like a Malaysian. Some even have Malaysian IDs. Crap, they could be in every town in Sabah, just waiting for the right moment for another ambush.

All I can think about right now is to ask my family to run. Run away. Go somewhere else until this whole issue is resolved. Because what if the Sulu people are already in Kota Kinabalu (my hometown) and are planning on an ambush? Then my mom asked me "How long can the people run away for? You can go to another country to visit, but for how long? This matter would probably drag on for another hundred years. There really isn't a way to solve this. We can't run away."

My mom's right. There really isn't a way out. We can't run away. We can only pray and believe. He's got the whole world in His hands, so I'm sure He has a plan. One that is to prosper and not to harm us.