LIMBARUH HIJAU 24 APRIL 2008 – Ongoing peace process in Mindanao might be put in jeopardy if Malaysia and Brunei peacekeepers pull out from the southern Philippines.

Worse still, Philippines troops and anti-government insurgents might break cease-fire and resume decades-old deadly clashes once Malaysia-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) leaves the conflict area.

The Malaysia-led foreign peace monitoring team, composed of 56 unarmed army officials and police, landed in the southern Philippines in October 2004. The deployment of the team has greatly decreased violence between the Philippine military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

According to latest report incidents of violence in the region were reduced from about 700 in 2002 to just about a dozen each year for the last four years.
 
But this may not be the case anymore as according to Borneo Bulletin quoting a spokesman from Brunei’s Ministry of Defence, “Brunei will probably pull out its peacekeepers from Mindanao if Malaysia does”.
 
Malaysia has decided to withdraw their forces from Mindanao once their mandate expires in September due to stagnant peace talks between the Philippine government and MILF.

      ABS-CBN News, quoting Rodolfo Garcia, the chief negotiator of the Philippine government, reported that the stable and peaceful condition now enjoyed in the contingency-rife Mindanao "would not be very sure if the Malaysians end their presence.".

The National Development Party, as a peace-loving political party in Brunei too is very concerned over this development especially with the possibility of escalation of hostilities in Mindanao if IMT pulls out from monitoring the ceasefire between the Philippine government and MILF.

NDP is worried that with the absence of IMT in Mindanao; it would have a negative impact on the implementation of the ceasefire and peace negotiations that have been ongoing since 2003.

MILF signed a transient truce with the government in 2003 but peace talks have been on and off as the two sides cannot agree on the size and wealth of the proposed ancestral homeland for Muslims in Mindanao.

The latest peace talks stalled in December 2007 after the MILF accused the government of changing a number of consensus points in a proposed agreement on Muslim homeland.

NDP is hopeful that Malaysia and Brunei would reconsider their decision to end their peacekeeping mission in the southern Philippines for the sake of peace and stability in the region.

NDP is also hopeful that the Philippines Government and MILF would put greater efforts  to resolve their differences and ensure the peace process a success with signing of the final peace agreement in August.