A Japanese daily's claim that Muslim separatists from southern Philippines had purchased North Korean arms in a deal brokered by Malaysia defied "common sense and logic", said Zakaria Abdullah, the head of the Kuala Lumpur-based Bangsamoro Research Centre.

He said the government's active training of Moro rebels had ceased since the mid-70s. Moreover, Malaysia's political support for the separatists ended with the 1996 peace agreement, and this was followed by peace talks in 2001.

Zakaria said that Malaysia's role in the Mindanao peace process leaves it no room for moves to worsen the conflict.

Zakaria was commenting on a report by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper which, among other allegations, stated that Malaysia had brokered the sale of more than 10,000 rifles and other weapons as well as a 'submersible vessel' between 1999 and 2002.

"This (report) is another case of fishing in troubled waters. Since the peace agreement (in September 1996) between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front, Malaysia has been neutral," he said when contacted.

According to Zakaria, Malaysia's financial and military backing for Muslim separatists in southern Philippines had long dwindled to mere diplomatic support.

"Military training of Moro rebels stopped in 1974. After that, they only supported them diplomatically. Since 1996, they have been an impartial arbiter between the Philippine government and the MILF."

'Within Malaysia's right'

Nevertheless, Zakaria defended Malaysia's past training and support of Moro rebels.

He said the backing was in response to Philippines' training in 1968 of more than 135 naval recruits on Corregidor Island in Cavite, which was part of a plan to invade Sabah.

The incident was tagged as the 'Jabidah massacre' after the mostly Muslim recruits, who turned mutinous upon discovering the objectives of the training, were executed by their superiors in an attempt to silence them.

Subsequent to the 'Jabidah massacre', Malaysia was only acting within its rights to counter the Philippines' actions, argued Zakaria.

"Those years of Malaysian support was in response to Philippines' organisation of a force to invade Sabah. The Jabidah massacre is an open book, in which the Philippines' bad intentions were made known to the world. It was within Malaysia's right to counter that by training the Moro rebels," he added.

Presently, however, it would be illogical for Malaysia to countenance the beef-up of MILF's military capacity as Malaysia would then be acting against its own security interests in the region, Zakaria added.

Malaysia's role of impartial arbiter has been enhanced further since 2001 into an active player for peace when the government began facilitating talks between the Philippine government and the MILF.

Brokering a deal between North Korea and MILF in order to beef up the separatists' military capacity would contradict the country's role as a peace broker between the two protaganists, said Zakaria.

"Malaysia wants peace. No more, no less," he stressed.

"Malaysia has interests in the region, so if peace is restored, it would be to Malaysia's advantage. It would also be in Malaysia's interests to solve the conflict in Mindanao, not aggravate it," he added.

'Black propaganda'

Another bewildering allegation by the daily, said Zakaria, was that MILF had accumulated the bulk of the funds for the purchase of weapons supplies from North Korea through the sale of "marijuana and stimulant drugs".

"This defies reason and logic. Everybody who has gone into the MILF camps know that even smoking cigarettes is haram (prohibited) there. How then can marijuana be sold?" he asked.

The MILF, which had on Dec 21 concluded the sixth round of exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur with the Philippine government, issued a strongly worded statement yesterday in response to the allegations.

It compared the allegations to similar claims that had previously been made by war hawks as pretexts to suspend peace talks and resume hostilities.

"It is therefore very clear that the news item is a malicious and misleading black propaganda against the MILF and designed to derail further the resumption of the formal peace talks between the Philippine government and MILF," said the statement.

In another statement released yesterday, Islamic opposition party PAS questioned the timing of the allegations, the most recent in a string of claims attempting to link Muslim-majority Malaysia with Islamic militants elsewhere in the world.