March 29, 2011 - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (IMT) peace panel has yet to receive communication from the Indonesian government or through its embassy in Manila regarding their official confirmation of their participation to the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT).

It is a matter of established protocol that an invited country or group to the IMT or to the International Contact Group (ICG) has to make official confirmation of their acceptance of the invitation.

This was the statement of Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel secretariat, in response to query whether Indonesia has already been officially admitted member of the IMT.

“We expect their official contact very soon,” Mantawil said, even as he clarified that for the MILF Indonesia is already considered member of the IMT.

Along with Norway, the European Union, and Qatar, Indonesia was formally invited by the two peace panels on December 9, 2009.

Except for Malaysia, which was officially and unilaterally invited by Manila to facilitate the GPH-MILF peace talks in 2001, all members of the IMT and ICG, states and non-states, have formally accepted their participation to both the government and the MILF. The MILF concurred to the decision.

GPH peace panel chairman Dean Marvic Leonen first broke this news to the MILF during their 20th GPH-MILF Exploratory Talks in Kuala Lumpur on February 9-10, 2011. Later, Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, disclosed to media Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono initially announced his country’s participation in the IMT during his bilateral talk with President Benigno Aquino III, who made a state visit to Indonesia from March 8 to 9.

“At the bilateral meeting, President Yudyohono told [Aquino] that Indonesia will join IMT to reciprocate the Philippine peacekeeping assistance in Aceh," said Deles, referring to Philippines’ participation in the monitoring if the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on August 15, 2005 in Helsinki, Finland. Signified their intention to join the IMT during the state visit of President Benigno Simeon Aquino in Jakarta early this week.

At present, the IMT, which is tasked to monitor the ceasefire, civilian protection component, rehabilitation, humanitarian, and development, and socio-economic agreements between the government and the MILF, is composed of representatives from Malaysian, Brunei, Libya, Japan, and recently, Norway and European Union (EU). On the other hand, the ICG is composed of the United Kingdom, Japan, Turkey, and recently, Saudi Arabia, and non-state members as follows: The Asia Foundation, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Muhammadiyah, and Conciliation Resources.

The new IMT head of mission in the person of Major Gen. Dato Mahdi bin Yusof of the Malaysian Armed Forces. He replaced Major Gen.  Datuk Baharom bin Hamzah, head of the IMT-5 whose mandate ended on February 28.