Leading Islamic NGOs in the region have called on all parties to the conflict in the southern Philippines to cease armed hostilities and appealed for help for more than 130,000 people fleeing renewed violence this past week.

NGOs and activists linked to the Southeast Asia Forum for Islam and Democracy (SEAFID), in a petition signed in Jakarta on Thursday, urged Malaysia to take an active part in the peace process, noting the planned peace agreement signing by the Philippine government and the Moro rebels in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 5 had been postponed at the last minute.

That postponement, requested by the Philippine Supreme Court, triggered the latest violence in the southern province of Mindanao.

The petitioners appealed to both sides to work toward getting the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain signed.

"We also hope the discussion to find a permanent political solution to the conflict in Mindanao can start as soon as possible," the petition stated.

Amina Rasul, of the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy and a participant at the SEAFID conference, said the rest of Southeast Asia needed to know about the situation in southern Philippines. "I don't think the region knows the full story," she said.

The violence in the southern Philippines was one of the topics discussed at SEAFID's two-day meeting. The NGO forum seeks to promote the well-being of Muslims in the region through democracy and nonviolence.

The forum also heard reports reviewing conditions of minority Muslim populations in Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Timor Leste as well as reports from Indonesia and Malaysia where Muslims are in the majority.

SEAFID, which began as a series of roundtable discussions in various Southeast Asian capitals, enacted a charter at the close of the conference, anticipating the more extensive work it plans to undertake in future.

Its programs, also endorsed at the conference, range from promoting democracy, gender equality, human rights, peace and social justice to the improvement of education and environmental protection.

The conference also appointed a board of governors comprising Syafi'i Anwar (Indonesia), Mohd. Roslan Mohd. Nor (Malaysia), Saung Lwin Aung (Myanmar), Amina Rasul (the Philippines), Maarof Salleh (Singapore), Ahmad Somboon Bualuang (Thailand) and Arif Abdullah Sagran (Timor Leste).

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