DAVAO CITY: Malaysia has promised to work with new Philippine President Rodrigo R Duterte to bring lasting peace to Mindanao which has been riven by conflict.
The Philippine’s Business Online quoted Malaysian Consul-General Abdullah Zawawi Tahir as saying Putrajaya would further strengthen its commitment for a lasting peace in Mindanao.
The Malaysian Government has been acting as the mediator in the peace process between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Aside from hosting the peace negotiations, Putrajaya has also sent top military officials to become part of the International Monitoring Team overseeing a ceasefire between the MILF and the Philippine military.
Business Online quoted Abdullah Zawawi, who has been the top Malaysian official in Davao City since 2012, as saying Malaysia considered Duterte as “the best leader for the job”.
Duterte was Davao City Mayor before contesting and winning the recent presidential election. One of his election pledges is to work towards ensuring lasting peace in Mindanao and bring development to the island.
Abdullah Zawawi said it was time for the Philippine government to develop Mindanao because it had a lot of resources, particularly human resources. However, he said, many of the skilled workers were outside the country.
Saying these Filipinos should “come home” to help the Philippines, he added that in Malaysia alone there were about 25,000 Filipino experts in information technology who could be enticed to come home if there were opportunities for them.
He said the Philippines could also learn from the experience of Malaysia in the implementation of a federal system of government.
Duterte has been pushing for federalism, which, he said, would help resolve the armed conflicts in Mindanao as well as alleviate poverty in the hinterlands, according to the report.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/05/19/malaysia-to-strengthen-peace-efforts-in-mindanao/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.