Dining with peace negotiators

I had the opportunity to meet socially with a group of peace negotiators last week at dinner in the New World Hotel in Makati. The get-together was hosted by OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process).

An initiative of OPAPP’s Annabelle T. Abaya, the dinner welcomed peace negotiators from other troubled parts of the world. They were in Manila to share their knowledge and experience in their own areas for a one-day dialogue the next day. I sat between American Dave Gorman of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and Indonesian former Vice President Jusuf Kalla who is also known as a premier peacemaker in his country.

As all of us agreed, peace often happens outside negotiating tables. And it is no different with the peace process now being attempted between the Philippine government and the MILF. (I was not sure whether the process also included the MNLF because I read somewhere that it was and its inclusion had the support of the Organization of Islamic Countries).

I asked Mr. Gorman whether there was any special reason for US participation in the Philippine government-MILF talks. It has been bruited about that the US had a vested interest in the peace negotiations because the south was a strategic point in the region.

His reply was interesting. He said in so many words that the US wanted peace now in Muslim Mindanao while there is a more moderate generation still around. It was possible to talk to the majority of the Muslims whether these were with the MILF or MNLF. If negotiations dragged on and failed we may have to deal with a younger, more virulent generation. By then it may be more difficult if not impossible to forge peace.

My conversation with Jusuf Kalla began by telling him that I was in Jakarta and interviewed former President BJ Habibie. Well, he said his wife, Hasri Ainun Habibie had just died of colon cancer in Munich. It brought me back to a time when as Asia Editor of First Magazine I had joined them with President Suharto in a trip to Munich. At the time, my late husband Alberto A. Pedrosa was Philippine ambassador to Belgium, EU and Luxembourg. 

BJ Habibie called me a “pinsan” because Filipinos and Indonesians are related. At the time Habibie’s passion was to produce Indonesian-made airplanes that could be sold cheaply to ASEAN countries especially to an archipelago like the Philippines. I had not followed what happened to the project but I remained close to Indonesia and went there a number of times.

Kalla was mild mannered and one would not think that he could put together warring parties together as he did for Aceh. I told him that Aceh could be a potent model for the peace negotiations going on in Mindanao. For a long time Aceh was bent on separation and many were killed in the war for that cause. But all that has been put behind. It seems that the tsunami that caused such destruction and death in Aceh it was a turning point that led to peace. At this point Governor of Aceh Irwandi Yusuf joined us and continued the banter. You would not believe that once upon a time this man had given war orders. Gorman was one of those he had arrested and jailed.

It was tragedy, not negotiations on the table, that had made peace possible in Aceh. There was agreement around the table that peace occurs at unlikely times and for unlikely reasons. Nevertheless negotiations must continue so warring parties can come together easier when peace does happen.

It would be true of Aceh or any other troubled place that peace will not come unless there had been continuing interactions for peace. Later in the evening I met the Palestinian in the group and he said the same thing that heaven forbid but it might just be a natural catastrophe that will bring peace between Palestinians and Israelis. That is awful to contemplate but that also underlines the futility of mere human effort at peacemaking.  

Datuk Othman Bin Abd Razak, Malaysian facilitator in the peace process between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), also participated as a resource speaker in the Manila forum.

The talks broke down in August 2008 following the aborted signing of the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). But the Arroyo government continued with the talks. It also continues to reach out to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front which is often described as the longest communist rebellion in the world.

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Although the Arroyo government had hoped for an interim agreement with the MILF before President GMA finished her term, the negotiations achieved the next best thing — to sign a declaration from both sides that they would continue talking under a new government.

It may seem that nothing was accomplished by negotiations or that an agreement to keep talking does not mean anything at all. Abaya of OPAPP explained that the “document must be seen as an effort to acknowledge the gains accomplished in the past years of negotiation and to ensure a seamless turnover of the process to the next administration. The decision to stay on the table is a case of mutually beneficial stalemate.”

”It means that both parties recognize that neither side can maximize its gains by staying out of the table. Neither can get what it wants without collaboration. So they are forced to work together. And this brings with it the opportunity for both parties to be able to “take care of the security and welfare of the people, jointly attain their aspirations, pursue economic growth and development, and enhance the stability of the region and the nation”.  

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President GMA was working for peace up to the last minute of her term, Abaya adds. She had persisted and hoped that an interim agreement could be reached. Both sides of the panels cooperated but achieving a peace agreement will take more time and effort. It was successful in that both panels were willing to “accommodate each other’s needs and concerns.” Both panels also commended the Malaysian Government and Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Adbul Razak for their assistance under very trying circumstances. All this is to say that the negotiations ended in a positive note when it last met in Kuala Lumpur.