He said political and security developments in the Philippines over the last one week revealed that, even with the direct intervention of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), the warring factions of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front had not been able to reach a consensus on the Bangsamoro Basic Law to create a Bangsamoro homeland in Mindanao.
Further, Moro fighters who are not happy with the proposed peace deal with the Philippines government would likely form “lost commands” and new fronts, such as the newly formed, more extreme Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), to continue the war against the Philippines, he said in a statement yesterday.
“Compounding the matter on the government side is the strong resistance from the Philippines elite such as the Senate and other powerful vested interests against a peace deal with the Bangsamoro. Following the January 25 Mamasapano clash between the Philippine police and the MILF and BIFF killing 44 policemen, an online news opinion poll of 10,000 persons shows that 2/3 of respondents as objecting to the proposed peace deal with the MILF. This and other signs of waning support for the peace deal has boosted the anti-peace camp in both the Philippine Congress and Senate, which will have to approve the peace deal by June this year,” said Yong who is a former chief minister of Sabah.
In any case, he said the emergence of IS terrorists who copycat the violence of the Middle East pose a serious threat to the peace and security of the Southern Philippines, and hence to neighbouring Sabah as well. The most dangerous elements are those “lost commands”, bands of trained Moro fighters who opt out of the formal structure and command of either the MNLF or MILF and commit crimes across the border in Sabah.
Therefore, Sabah must prepare for the worse yet to come, he said.
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