Philippine peace talks offer a lesson for Thailand

Peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have not yet reached their ultimate goal but some progress was made at the weekend that offers lessons for other conflicting parties in the region, notably in Thailand and Myanmar.

The government in Manila and the Moro separatists reached an agreement on “wealth sharing” during a lengthy meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday. Under the arrangement, the Moro will get a 75-per cent share of profits from resources in the Muslim autonomous region, which is to be called Bangsamoro.

Manila has been involved in the peace negotiation process with the MILF since a truce pact was signed in October last year, following on-and-off talks over the past 15 years. Both sides have a long way to go before a full peace agreement, and the next major challenges for them are on power sharing and normalisation. 

Power sharing is the difficult issue, with the question of how to divide power between the central government in Manila and the ethno-religious group in the southern region of the country. Normalisation might be just as difficult – the question being how to disband and disarm the MILF, which took up arms against the predominantly Christian state years ago. 

However both sides say they have faith in the process and have expressed willingness to go the distance. Their efforts should send a message to other conflicting parties in this region. 

Unlike the situation in southern Thailand, Manila and the MILF have had contact for a long time and the Filipino authorities have talked with many Moro groups, including the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The two sides are not strangers to each other. In the Thai context, Bangkok still has no idea who really leads the Muslim separatists in the deep South, nominally headed by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinate (BRN-C). They still need more time to get to know and understand each other.

Unlike in Thailand and Myanmar, the authorities in Manila acknowledge, if not fully recognise, the “rights and legitimacy” of the ethnic groups it is talking with. The idea of sharing wealth and power could never be imagined unless the conflicting parties did not recognise each other’s rights and legitimacy. In the context of Thailand and Myanmar, it is still too difficult for Bangkok and Nay Pyi Taw to recognise that the ethnic groups they are talking to have full right to their land.

Unlike the talks going on in Thailand and Myanmar, Manila and the Moro separatists reached common ground on the direction of negotiations and the ultimate goal of the talks. They are sitting down and talking, with clear goals in mind. In Myanmar, all the ethnic groups know there are numerous “levels” of talks, but they cannot imagine a clear pathway to a conclusion. Terms such as “wealth sharing” and “power sharing” cannot be spelled out in the Myanmar peace talks, nor those in Thailand’s South. The Thai government, especially, still does not really know who it is talking to, or what the two sides should be talking about.

Negotiations are a matter of give and take. Peace talks can be successful only if both sides are willing to make concessions. If they are not, the result can only be failure.