MANILA Malaysia has asked both the Philippine military and Muslim separatist rebels to exercise restraint amid fresh fighting that has claimed over 200 lives in the country's troubled south, a special envoy said yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ( photo ) made the appeal to President Gloria Arroyo's special envoy, Roberto Romulo, during a meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss reviving peace talks with the Muslim rebels.

Romulo was dispatched to ask Kuala Lumpur to help convince the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to return to formal peace talks despite the renewed fighting.