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Indonesia's crucial role in continuing the Mindanao peace process
With their experience in the Aceh peace process, Indonesia's government and civil organizations could play a crucial role as a broker in Mindanao's transition to full autonomy for the Bangsamoro people.
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Soldiers walk past a man slumped beside a tricycle in Jolo, Mindanao Island, on June 28, 2019, following an armed attack in front of the temporary headquarters of the Philippine army's First Brigade Combat counterterrorism team that left three soldiers dead and nine others wounded. (AFP/Nickee Butlangan)
T
he Bangsamoro people, a Muslim community in Mindanao, the southern Philippines, have a long history of conflict with Manila. The struggle for liberation and the quest for an independent state have been at the heart of their history.
After decades of conflict that cost many lives, the Bangsamoro or Moro people, represented by the separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the Philippine government led by Rodrigo Duterte finally reached a peace agreement in 2018. This led to the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), ending the long-standing conflict between the two sides.
Following the formation of BARMM, the Bangsamoro people are currently in the process of post-conflict recovery. Such recovery efforts, Martina Fischer (2004) argues, are no less urgent than efforts to end the conflict itself, because if mismanaged, the conflict could flare up again.
However, post-conflict reconstruction is not just about repairing physical damage and destroyed infrastructure. Rather, as Boutros Ghali (1992) puts it, post-conflict recovery is a collective effort to "strengthen and consolidate peace to prevent the recurrence of conflict" and to "improve people's confidence and well-being".
On this basis, there are at least two important issues that the Bangsamoro people must address in their post-conflict recovery efforts: first, how to strengthen the consolidation between the BARMM government and the Philippine government; and second, how to improve their capacity.
It is here that Indonesia could play a role as an honest broker in assisting post-conflict recovery efforts in Mindanao, as it has had a similar experience in the peace process in Aceh since 2005.
Moreover, according to Maj. Gen. Jaakko Oksanen, senior advisor of the Crisis Management Initiative/CMI-Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation Helsinki that mediated peace talks between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Jakarta in 2005, the peace achieved in Aceh is the best example of handling armed conflicts in various parts of the world.
