Using radio, social media to advocate peace

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Anti-social terrorists make use of almost unchallenged information and communication technology like Internet platforms to spread their culture of violence.

However, two Muslim peace advocates harnessed the reach and power of radio broadcast and social media to counter jihadist propaganda from influencing their fellow Muslims in Western Mindanao.

They fight fire with the proverbial water of eternal life.

The two radio program block timers are Abdulwahid Lutian and Mickdad Sali.

Lutian is an official of the Bureau of Quarantine office in Zamboanga City, while Sali is a police community relations officer at the Police Protection and Security Group of the Philippine National Police’s regional office in the Zamboanga Peninsula region.

“We use our radio program to reach out to our Muslim brothers, to educate them on the correct teachings of Islam, to bring back to the fold those who have strayed from the Islamic way,” said Lutian, who regularly anchors Al-Raisalah program.

Al-Raisalah is Arabic for “The Messenger”, according to Lutian. It is aired live every Saturday and Sunday, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. over RPN-DXXX AM station in Zamboanga.

The transmission power, Lutian said, reaches most of the provinces in the Sulu area and up to the Lanao areas.

He is the main host and anchor, while Sali takes care of production chores or pinch-hits for him when he is not available.

Different bonafide Muslim scholars serve as resource persons in every episode. They have lined up 25 topics so far that will cover up to January next year. The program’s episodes are posted on its Facebook account.

Lutian said they discuss a wide array of topics in the program.

“Last Sunday, we talked why it is a sin for a Muslim to imbibe intoxicating alcohol,” Lutian said, adding that alcohol is prohibited in the Koran, as well as in the sayings of Prophet Muhammad.

The issues they have discussed or will discuss in the coming episodes include human rights, Shariah laws and its parts, health from the point of Islamic practice, burial ceremonies, voting rights, and peace and security.

Each on-air dialogue with the Muslim scholars, he said, makes it authoritative and authentic. All the scholars tapped to guest in the program are graduates of Islamic universities abroad, with diplomas on their majors, such as Shariah laws.

Lutian is a member of the technical working group of the Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism (CVET) group of the city, which is headed by the city mayor.

“My radio program also aims to warn the youths from getting involved in extremism, by citing Koranic admonitions against violence and depicting the life of Prophet Muhammad as a man and model of peace,” he said.

The main theme of the radio program, he said, is oneness of Muslims with Allah.

“We want our Muslim brothers to follow the teachings of Islam to foster peace and harmony in Muslim societies and our relationship with people of other faith,” he said.

Lutian and Sali started their broadcasting tandem back in 2009 in a different station, which lasted until 2015.

During the Ramadhan fasting month earlier this year, the two conducted another program on topics related to fasting. They launched their ongoing program in DXXX last August.

Lutian said he and Sali carry out the radio projects on a voluntary basis, and are not getting paid for their services. A Muslim NGO pays for the airtime, he said.

“The radio programs from the start are our passion, from our sense of dedication to serve,” he said.

A few days ago, Task Force Zamboanga’s 11 Infantry Battalion bestowed on him a certificate of recognition for his radio outreach project and peace-making advocacies, during the battalion’s anniversary.

No doubt, the recognition is a salute to Lutian in his mission to promote peace and security and the Islamic way of better life for his brothers, redounding to inclusion among local peoples of other faiths.