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Thursday, September 18, 2008
MILF whines about 'controversial' tags
DAVAO CITY -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) protested against some reporters' use of what it calls "controversial tags."
In a report posted at www.luwaran.com, MILF secretariat chair Muhammad Ameen said the use of terms, descriptions, or phrases like "secessionist MILF," "establishing an Islamic state," "sellout of Mindanao," and others is "not only deepening the disunity among peoples in Mindanao but also doing injustice to the MILF and to good scholarship."
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"Please be objective and fair," Ameen said to media, which, according to him, have contributed to the "hysteric reaction and opposition" to the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
On the issue of Islamic state, Ameen said the MILF intends to establish a kind of state or sub-state suitable to the Bangsamoro people, free of imposition that would respond to their aspirations. What this means, he did not explain further.
He recalled that the late MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim, in an interview in 1999 at Camp Abubakar, said that if the Bangsamoro people want a "communist state," let them have it. Analyst described this stand as the leader's subscription to the Islamic principle of "people's consultation" in "running the affairs of the community."
On the MOA-AD's "sellout" of Mindanao to the Bangsamoro people, he said many people are ignorant of history and the rights of the Moros over this island.
He said it is not fair to say that the MOA-AD provided for a sellout of Mindanao to the Bangsamoro people or MILF, because only about 15-17 percent of it comprised the territory of the future Bangsamoro state or sub-state.
He further said it is a fact that the Bangsamoro people had been in Mindanao even before the Spaniards and the Americans came.
On another news, Senator Rodolfo Biazon meantime urged the executive department of the government to make public the national policy being pursued relative to the peace process.
The retired general said the basic questions that must be addressed are:
1. Is the peace process being abandoned?
2. Is the peace process temporarily suspended to be resolved sometime in the future and how long will the suspension be?
3. If the peace process will be resumed, will the resumption be dependent on certain conditions such as Demobilization, Disarmament, Rehabilitation (DDR)?
4. If the peace process is to be abandoned, what will be the appropriate government response to the situation in case defenseless civilians once again get the brunt of depredatory acts by the MILF in Kulambugan, Maigo, Maasin?
Biazon said answering those questions would guide the other branches of the government in formulating a legislative response, such as the approval of a supplemental budget that may be required to support any government program to pursue law enforcement policies.
"If the peace process will be resumed, I recommend it be resumed not under the auspices of the Malaysians. Malaysia's role can only be influenced by a conflict of interest situation because of the Philippine claim to Sabah which has not yet been resolved internationally," Biazon said.
"There is also the matter of the conflicting claims between the Republic of the Philippines and Malaysia regarding certain areas of the Spratlys. Malaysia's credibility as an intermediary in the Philippine-MILF process is affected by these conflicting claims," he added.
Biazon said the best replacement for Malaysia as peace broker would be Indonesia.
"If it is advisable for the peace broker to be any of the members of the Asean organization, I would go for Indonesia. I would propose tapping the Indonesians to lead the international monitoring team. Indonesia had credibly brokered the peace agreement between the Philippines and the MNLF culminating in the signing of the Jakarta Accord in 1996 as an implementation of the Tripoli Agreement of 1976. Indonesia will be a more acceptable broker for the ongoing Philippine-MILF in the event such process will be resumed," said Biazon. (BOT/Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (September 18, 2008 issue)
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