The Philippines and Malaysia affirmed commitment to cooperate in countering Islamic extremism mainly through the Islamic State (IS) incursion in the region during the meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday.
Both leaders, however, skipped the thorny issue on Sabah, a Malaysian territory on which the Philippines has a historical claim.
The meeting was held in Putrajaya where Mr. Duterte and Mahathir made a commitment to “further strengthen defense and security cooperation at the bilateral and regional level,” Malacañang said in a statement.
Both leaders watched the boxing match in Kuala Lumpur won by Filipino boxing icon Sen.
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Mr. Duterte also thanked Mahathir for Malaysia’s support for the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Malaysia has served as the third-party facilitator between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Top of the agenda in the meeting of both leaders was resolving terrorism and violent extremism in the region and transnational crimes such as piracy, maritime crimes and the illegal drugs trade.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque earlier said Mr. Duterte was likely to skip discussions on Sabah in his meeting with Mahathir.
“Malaysia helped us as an observer in the International Monitoring Team in the peace negotiations between the Philippines and the MILF. The IS threat on the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia was discussed since the problem does not cover only the Philippines, but also the entire Southeast Asia,” Roque said.
Roque said while economic cooperation was also touched in the meeting, the predominant topic was on military cooperation such as joint trainings and the provision of weapons for the military to counter terrorism and extremism.
The Daily Tribune earlier reported plans of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members to be deployed in Mindanao in an unprecedented move to strengthen cooperation to stem the IS sympathizers in the region.
Defense and security officials, however, said such proposals may need the signing of mutual defense pacts among countries included in the joint military operation.
