Page 11 - Aruba Today

WORLD NEWS A11
Thursday 4 February 2016

Philippines fears new fighting with stalled Muslim autonomy

JIM GOMEZ dead and stunted devel- Filipino Muslims pray at the gates of the Philippine Congress during a protest Wednesday, Feb. 3,
Associated Press opment in the country’s 2016, at suburban Quezon city. northeast of Manila, Philippines.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) poorest region.
— The Philippine Congress The peace deal, which Associated Press
ended its last regular ses- seeks to provide a more
sion of its term Wednesday powerful and potentially vowed to continue fight- difference and chronic ab- delays in the passage of
without passing a Muslim larger autonomous region ing for a separate Muslim senteeism of a majority of the autonomy bill and ef-
autonomy bill that aims to minority Muslims in the homeland in the south, the legislators” in part for forts to water it down have
to peacefully settle a de- south of the predominantly could exploit the setback. the failure to pass the bill, sparked frustration among
cades-long Muslim rebel- Roman Catholic nation, “They will be emboldened adding, “at this low point, guerrillas and Muslims in
lion in the south, sparking should have been a major to renew their course in the we call for sobriety and the south. Residents have
concerns the setback may legacy of Aquino’s presi- hope that they will harvest perseverance.” staged rallies to protest the
ignite new fighting. dency. the discontent,” Ferrer said. Mohagher Iqbal, a senior delays in two predominant-
Lawmakers had until While the Malaysian-bro- She blamed “the sheer in- rebel leader, has said that ly Muslim cities. q
Wednesday to deliberate kered peace accord re-
on the bill before they start mains effective, a new
a three-month break at autonomy bill will have to
the end of the week. The be presented to the new
long-delayed legislation Congress under Aquino’s
is at the heart of a peace successor. The presidential
deal signed by the largest election is May 9.
Muslim rebel group and the “This delays the final settle-
government of President ment,” said Teresita Deles,
Benigno Aquino III, whose the presidential adviser on
term ends in June. the talks.
The killing of 44 police com- “There will be elements
mandos in fighting that in- that will completely lose
volved some guerrillas from hope that this can really be
the Moro Islamic Liberation done.”
Front early last year scut- Government peace nego-
tled the early passage of tiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer
the Muslim autonomy bill said hard-line groups like
outlined in the 2014 peace the Bangsamoro Islamic
deal. The separatist con- Freedom Fighters, which
flict has left 150,000 people opposed peace talks and

Malaysian politician ousted

after criticizing prime minister

Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of former Malaysian Prime Minister scandal. 2018. 1MDB for possible graft,
Mahathir Mohamad, smiles as he leaves after a press confer- Mukhriz Mahathir said he Mukhriz however, warned and two former Malaysian
ence in Kedah, Malaysia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. had lost majority support in that the ruling Malay party officials also have chal-
the Kedah state assembly was now at “its weakest lenged the attorney gen-
Associated Press following a party bid to re- point,” tainted by scandal- eral’s decisions.
move him as chief minister. ridden state investment “Scandal after scandal,
EILEEN NG signed as the top leader Mahathir has been leading fund 1MDB and more than we can’t take it all. It’s too
Associated Press of a federal state Wednes- calls for Najib to step down, $700 million that was chan- much for us. This is trauma-
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia day, saying he was ousted and Mukriz’s ouster was neled into Najib’s personal tizing all of us,” Mukhriz said.
(AP) — The son of former because he had criticized seen as a continuing purge bank accounts. 1MDB is mired in 42 billion
Malaysian Prime Minister Prime Minister Najib Razak of critics in Najib’s govern- The attorney general last ringgit ($10.1 billion) in debt
Mahathir Mohamad re- over a $700 million financial ment. week cleared Najib of any and has been selling its as-
The prime minister’s office criminal wrongdoing, say- sets to clear its books. Najib,
in a statement said Mukhriz ing most of the money in his who formed 1MDB in 2009,
lost majority support be- accounts was a private do- became embroiled in the
cause of a lack of confi- nation from the Saudi royal scandal after documents
dence in his leadership and family and that Najib had were leaked last year sug-
concerns that better prep- returned most of it. gesting that money depos-
arations were needed for Authorities in Switzerland, ited into his accounts may
the party to retain the state Singapore and other coun- have come from entities
in general elections due in tries are still investigating linked to 1MDB.q