April 24, 2008 LUAWARAN - Instead of pleading for the stay of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has praised the Malaysian government’s decision to pull back its contingent in view of the continued impasse of the GRP-MILF peace talks.
Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF committee on information, told Luwaran that the continued stay of the IMT in Mindanao, without the peace talks moving forward due to Manila’s “fooling around tactic”, is benefitting only the Philippine government by using the much-improved peace and order in the region to secure foreign aids or investments from overseas and to continue its counter-insurgency approach to the Moro Problem.
“We will not plead with the Malaysian government to let put their IMT in Mindanao,” he said, adding that Kuala Lumpur’s reputation, as an effective facilitator, has been stained by Manila’s utter disrespect and ingratitude to their goodwill and good offices.
In 2001 President Arroyo practically begged to then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad to help restart and facilitate the GRP-MILF peace talks after it collapsed in 2000 after President Joseph Estrada launched the all-out war against the MILF.
“Is this what the Malaysians should get and deserved in return, a deliberate foot-dragging of the talks?” Musa quipped.
A recent and clear example of government’s resort to deception to dupe the people took place in Marawi City on March 22. In his talk with Muslim political leaders during that regional peace and development conference, Secretary Jesus Dureza said negotiations with the MILF are “moving forward at an accelerated pace”.
“What negotiations? What a brazen lie, huh?” said one political officer of the MILF, based in Marawi City, who attended the conference, in incognito, after listening to Dureza spoke.
However, as of press time, the MILF has not yet received an official communication from the Malaysian government regarding the impending pullout of the IMT.
Earlier, government and MILF peace negotiators have practically resolved all the remaining issues on the draft memorandum of agreement (MOA) after the Malaysian facilitator, Datuk Othman bin Abdulrazak, made a “shuttling diplomacy” between Manila and Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Shariff Kabunsuan last February 19-22.
He brought with him the latest government position on ancestral domain, containing all the four strands, which was used as basis in talking to the MILF peace panel in the presence of the MILF central committee.
All the remaining few points of disagreement, separating the government and MILF positions on the issue, were settled there, except some minor points which he conveyed to the government side to respond, which appeared settled, as far as subsequent communications among the three Parties showed.
As a matter of fact, the MILF peace panel was informed by the facilitator that the peace talks could resume early March or after March 24, saying there were two importants events in the Philippines and Malaysia that have to given way, the Holy Week and the national parliamentary elections, respectively.
What created the present crisis in the talks is the latest move of the government to bring a new set of lawyers whom they have tasked to review the legality and constitutionality of the draft MOA. This new approach constitutes a derogation of the previous agreement contained in the draft MOA.
