Managing Armed Conflict in Southeast Asia: The Role of Mediation

Summary

The Southeast Asian region is more peaceful than it has been in the past six decades. Interstate conflict is a distant memory, and many — though not all — of the internal conflicts that erupted in the process of nation building after the colonial era have either subsided or have been resolved. ASEAN is proud of the fact that compared with neighbouring regions, relations among member states are relatively harmonious and security is for the most part assured.

There are glaring exceptions, however. In several parts of the region stubborn irredentist conflict sustains low intensity armed violence. In recent years, internal conflicts in the Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand and parts of Indonesia have flared up. In Southern Thailand, more than 3,500 lives have been lost since 2004. In 2008 a flare up of violence in the Southern Philippines resulted in the loss of 300 lives and the displacement of almost half a million people.

The fact that most of these conflicts pit Muslim against non-Muslim communities (in Indonesia's Maluku province, Mindanao in the Southern Philippines and Southern Thailand) has meant they attracted wider attention because of the dangers of wider international terrorist involvement.

Management of these conflicts has been partially successful. Over the years, governments have forged temporary ceasefire agreements, implemented some special local political arrangements, or placated communal feelings sufficiently enough to keep violence at a manageable level. But resolution in terms of reaching effective agreements to permanently end hostilities and address grievances through far reaching political and legal arrangements has been rare.

One notable exception appears to be Aceh. The long running conflict between the Indonesian authorities and the Free Aceh Movement was settled after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Helsinki in August 2005. The settlement, which allowed the former rebel groups to set up their own political parties, came after more than six years of efforts by private mediators from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, and latterly the Conflict Management Initiative, to bring the two sides together.