Manila wants the 12,000-strong MILF to lay down their arms first.The offer was contained in the government’s proposal for peace with the 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) at the start of three days of talks here.
“This proposal presents the possibility of a more empowered, more workable and thus, more genuine autonomy of a Bangsamoro (Filipino Muslim) region,” the government said in a statement summarising its offer.
The government did not make public all the specific details, but hinted the area could expand and improve the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which groups five Muslim provinces in the country’s troubled south.
The ARMM was created in the 1980s to accommodate the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), then the country’s largest Muslim rebel group from which the MILF splintered in 1978.
The MNLF signed a peace deal with Manila in 1996, and its leader was made the head of the ARMM, but the government statement described it as a “failed experiment”.
The proposal also includes “a system of cooperation” by which the government and the MILF could share revenue from natural resources exploited from the region.
However, for any final peace deal to take place, the government demanded that the MILF disarm and allow its fighters to be rehabilitated into society.
And while describing its proposal as “politically comprehensive”, it indicated the most sensitive issues would not be addressed immediately.
“The proposal works with what is available and doable within the next few years. It does not start with contentious and divisive issues whose resolution may not be realisable as yet,” the statement said.
Today’s proposal was the first by the government since the Supreme Court in 2008 outlawed another proposed autonomy deal that would have given the MILF control over 700 towns and villages in the south, including some Christian areas.
In retaliation, two senior MILF rebels launched attacks across the south that left about 400 dead and displaced 750,000.
About 150,000 people have died in the conflict, which began in the 1970s.
At an earlier round of peace talks here, the MILF outlined its demands, including the creation of a “sub state” and the larger share of profits from exploiting the region’s resources.
MILF spokespeople were not immediately available to give their reactions to the government’s latest proposal.
AFP
harap keamanan atau perdamaian akan dicapai di kawasan tersebut.
ReplyDeleteHarap tiada lagi yang akan terkorban.
ReplyDeletejika keamanan kawasan tersebut dpt dicapai, ia seterusnya akan menjamin keamanan serantau. pasti pendatang dari selatan pilipin ke Sabah akan berkurangan.
ReplyDeleteKuasa autonomi mungkin dapat dicapai dari dulu lagi jika keganasan tidak diamalkan.
ReplyDeleteLay down the arms and you will get the autonomy
ReplyDeletenampaknya konflik di Selatan Filipina ini masih belum selesai. jadi adalah lebih baik jika MILF dan Filipina sama2 mendapat kata sepakat dalam cadangan damai yang dibuat oleh Filipina. walaupun penduduk selatan Filipina yang majoriti beragama Islam (bangsa Moro) telah mengalami penindasan sejak zaman penjajahan Sepanyol, Amerika dan pemerintahan Filipina sendiri namun ini tidak bermaksud mereka tidak dapat untuk mencapai keamanan.
ReplyDeleteMILF harus pinggirkan cita2 mereka untuk menubuhkan sebuah negara Islam Moro yang bebas dan merdeka. Perjuangan Bangsa Moro menentang penindasan yang merangkumi hampir 500 tahun tu mungkin satu tempoh masa yang sangat lama tapi adalah lebih bermakna jika MILF dapat berdamai dengan Filipina dan bergabung menjadi satu entiti yang dipanggil negara.
ReplyDeleteIni dari kerajaan mereka itu sendiri. Harap filipina dapat mencari kata sepakat bagi memastikan kedamaian dapat dikecapi.
ReplyDeletePerdamaian lagi mendatangkan faedah daripada memberontak.
ReplyDelete