ARMM execs to visit Malacca to revive trade links

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao — Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are touring Malacca, Malaysia starting tomorrow to revive ancient trade routes that once linked local Moro communities with foreign business centers.

ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, together with his legal and economic advisers, will focus during their four-day visit to Malacca on restoring trade linkages between Malaysian and Filipino traders, who enjoyed business ties from the 15th century to shortly before World War II.

Ampatuan will tour Malacca on a state visit on the behest of the state government of Malacca, with the permission of the Malaysian government.

ARMM Trade Secretary Ishak Mastura, Ampatuan’s foreign relations adviser, said the governor will use as business "pitch" the active involvement in the ongoing Mindanao peace process of Malaysia, through the 60-member international monitoring team, to convince Malaccan traders that it is not difficult to rebuild the ties they once enjoyed with their Filipino counterparts.

For the past two years, the Malaysian-led international monitoring team, composed of soldiers from Malaysia and Brunei and civilian representatives from Libya, has been helping the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) enforce a ceasefire in potential flashpoint areas in the South.

The monitoring team has also been active in helping disseminate to remote communities the need for multisectoral cooperation in furthering the peace talks.

"Economic empowerment of Moro communities is one of the objectives of the ongoing peace talks, where Malaysia is involved as third-party mediator. Thus, it is sensible to include the promotion of strong trade ties between the ARMM and Malaysia to complement the Mindanao peace process," Mastura said.

For local leaders, Ampatuan’s visit to Malacca is a clear indication that the new ARMM administration is recognized by Muslim states in Southeast Asia, despite the governor’s non-affiliation with either the MILF or the Moro National Liberation Front.

Mastura said he and Ampatuan’s executive secretary, lawyer Oscar Sampulna, will help drumbeat during their meetings with Malaccan businessmen and state leaders, the viability of venturing in the ARMM’s Regional Economic Zone Authority, which provides special tax and tariff incentives to foreign investors.

The trade ties between ancient Moros and merchants in Malacca, Sabah, Johore and parts of what is now Indonesia were pioneered by Shariff Mohammad Kabungsuwan, a preacher of Arab-Malay descent, who came to mainland Mindanao in the 14th century to introduce Islam.

Local and foreign merchants then, according to Ampatuan, bartered copra, coffee, rice and other native products from their respective communities.