Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak welcomes the announcement of a framework agreement for peace between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front – refers to a Sunni Islamist group located in southern Philippines – (MILF), the Sun Daily reports.
This announcement was made after both sides had demonstrated hopes to end the decades of violence despite their differences. Malaysia facilitated 32 meetings between the Philippine government and MILF in Kuala Lumpur for about two years before both parties reached an agreement on it following a meeting in Kuala Lumpur from October 2 until October 7 2012. The peace deal is significant to Malaysia, which offered its assistance to resolve the conflict by facilitating and hosting the talks.
According to a statement made to Bernama, Datuk Najib Razak said he is “delighted that through this historic deal, the rights, dignity and future prosperity of the Bangsamoro people will be protected, while at the same time the sovereignty and constitution of the Philippines will be preserved.” (Bangsamoro people are natives of the Sulu archipelago, parts of Mindanao, parts of Palawan in the Philippines and parts of Sabah in Malaysia, at the time of colonization.)
According to the prime minister, the agreement will ensure that the Bangsamoro people will enjoy the dividends of peace which they rightly deserved.
The prime minister also said he was honoured that Malaysia had been able to facilitate the talks since 2001, and lead the International Monitoring Team from 2004. “This process has strengthened the bonds of trust between our two countries, and we will continue to offer our support to help build capacity among the Bangsamoro,” Najib said.
Najib said that he would continue to work closely with President Aquino to implement the framework agreement. “And in honouring a promise I made to the President, I look forward to travelling to Manila to personally witness the signing of this landmark agreement,” he added.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also released a statement saying he was delighted over the agreement between the Philippine government and MILF.
He said, “Fighting each other, to me, is a waste of effort, waste of money and waste of life, and you don’t achieve anything also.”
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