Philippines Tells Rebel Group 'To Discipline Its Forces'

The Philippine government told a Muslim separatist group Monday that it needed to "discipline its forces" as the two sides met in Malaysia in efforts to thrash out a long-awaited peace agreement.

Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are striving to end a deadly decades-old insurgency in the southern Philippines through drawn-out peace negotiations which restarted in February.

In a statement, the Philippine government said it had deferred its submission of a peace deal proposal. The MILF put forward its draft at the last session, in April.

‘Abu Sayyaf Links Turned Dr M Red’

K Kabilan

However, his attack against the Time magazine over the article was moderate as he was not personally mentioned and wanted to keep a lid on the possible links, said US diplomats.

KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad was unusually moderate in his attacks against two articles which appeared to criticise his government in the Time and Fortune magazines in early 1995 as he was “not personally mentioned in the stories”.

Also, Mahathir was not keen to pursue his attacks against the Time magazine article in particular as it involved his government’s alleged links with the Aby Sayyaf movement from the Philippines.