Boydo Saragih (Sam Ratulangi University) has posted Humanizing Warfare: Sam Ratulangi’s Minahasan Philosophy of Sitou Timou Tumou Tou and International Humanitarian Law on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Contemporary International Humanitarian Law (IHL) faces a profound crisis of compliance, largely stemming from its reliance on a precarious equilibrium between “military necessity” and “humanity” rooted in Western legal positivism. This article argues that the current rights-based framework creates a “compliance gap” where the dehumanization of the adversary is often technically lawful yet morally catastrophic. To address this normative void, this study introduces the Minahasan philosophical axiom Sitou Timou Tumou Tou (STTT) “humans live to humanize others” formulated by Dr. Sam Ratulangi. By juxtaposing the Hobbesian foundations of IHL with Ratulangi’s logic of reciprocal existence, this paper deconstructs the conventional “ethics of restraint” and proposes an “ethics of identity.” The analysis posits that STTT functions not merely as a cultural aphorism but as a rigorous ontological formula (X • Y) where the survival of the “Self” (Si Tou) is intrinsically dependent on the active cultivation (Tumou) of the “Other.” Consequently, this article challenges the traditional interpretation of the Martens Clause, suggesting that the “dictates of public conscience” must be understood through this lens of interdependence rather than transactional reciprocity. By reframing adherence to the laws of war as an existential necessity rather than an external obligation, STTT offers a robust, Global South epistemological framework to rescue IHL from the paralysis of modern warfare.