The Schildbürger story

THERE is a German tale, a thousand times retold, of the Schildbürgers who, according to legend, inhabited a village in the city of Helm.

Nobody really knows where Helm was located or if it was really a town in Germany, but everyone remembers the Schildbürgers and the things they did.

After the Middle Ages, so the story goes, the Schildbürgers were known as the wisest men in Europe. Because they were wise, their counsel was sought by kings and emperors, rulers and potentates. Soon, they were conscripted to serve in the courts of all the royal houses and forced to leave their homes, their wives and children.

One day, the Schildbürgers received letters from their wives demanding that they return to their village. Obeying their behest, they returned only to find their houses in disrepair and their village in near shambles. Their wives then demanded that they stay home for good.

Being wise, they knew the dire consequences of their refusal to return to their lordly employers. It is for this reason that the Schildbürgers decided that they should play the role of fools, so that their powerful employers would not demand their return. As days became years and years decades, the Schildbürgers became what they pretended to be — the most laughable of all village fools.

They built a town hall, but without windows. To solve the problem of darkness, they tried to capture sunlight by using sacks. Since salt was the most expensive commodity during that time, they planted salt instead of the usual wheat. The Schildbürgers did a lot of other foolish things. One day, a journeyman sold them an unusual kind of dog, which was actually a cat. The creature started to behave strangely. It started to climb trees, chase mice and its eyes glistened with an eerie glow at night. The creature terrified the Schildbürgers no end.

To rid themselves of the frightful animal, they burned down their town and boarded ships — the ships of fools — and scattered to the four corners of the earth. That is why, it is said, fools are everywhere.

Why do I write about the Schildbürgers in a column about international law and how is the Schildbürger story related to the subject? They are intimately related, I would say. International law teaches us how to rid ourselves of village fools who can lead us to perdition, such as the fools that led mankind to two world wars. International law would give us a world view. A mind that could discern the intentions of states even if such intentions are hidden in the fog and quagmire of war.

Years ago, before the world had turned 12,000 times, I was in a makeshift army camp and an officer with the Chinese name of Loong who looked and talked like a Filipino crossed my path. I immediately saluted, and he saluted back in a funny way. After inquiring from third persons as to the origin of his strange salute, the words “Malaysian-trained,” “rebel returnee” were said in whispers. I then learned that Malaysia was actively supporting Muslim Filipinos in the war against the Philippines and that they had military bases there training Muslim Filipinos to further the Mindanao war.

Have you ever asked yourself why the conflict in Southern Philippines has lasted so long? All you have to do is to look at the map of the Philippines. The islands closest to Malaysia are where the conflict was at its heaviest. The province of Sulu, the islands of Jolo and Basilan, served as buffers to indirectly defeat the Sabah claim which is now moribund and survives only on paper. Malaysia had been supporting the war for decades until that incident when an armed group staged an assault landing in 2013, in Lahad Datu in Sabah. Malaysians jokingly referred to it as an “invasion.” Malaysian newspapers called it an attack staged by Filipino gunmen. The assault was easily subdued by the Malaysian security forces.

I know that some people affirm that the armed strife in western Mindanao has been going on for centuries — and maybe it will go on forever. But before it became a full-fledged war in the 1970s, there were manufacturing plants, entertainment centers, nascent industries, stores of all kinds, as the telephone directory of Sulu, Jolo and Basilan before that period would prove. In other words, we had the chance to go for it, to be the land of smiles instead of the land of unceasing wars, always locked and loaded and ready to shoot at each other.

As for the Schildbürger story? They had a fleet, it is said, so there are other ships still waiting to be unloaded.