Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) captured power from the LDP after winning the
November 2009 Lower House Elections, then Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya
announced that his country is committed to peace-building in Mindanao. Not only
will Japan remain in the IMT but will join a new mechanism, the International
Contact Group, alongside Turkey and the UK, and the Muhammadiyah (the largest
NGO in Indonesia) to advice the peace process. The approach by the new DPJ
government to peace-building in Mindanao remains the same: dispatching a staff to
the IMT who concentrates on developmental and human security projects. One of the
latest Japanese contributions to Mindanao is the digital mapping of the huge island so
that accurate information can be obtained about the appropriate places for assistance.
If the long running conflict in Mindanao were to be eventually solved through a
political compromise without input from Japan, then the latter’s role will basically be
post-conflict DDR and ODA couched in the language of “human security”.
Thus far, the DPJ government has neither appointed a Special Representative
of the Japanese Government for Peace-building in Mindanao nor publicly offered any
ideas to facilitate the peace process politically. Interviews with the DPJ’s
parliamentary secretary for defense (the political number three man in the Ministry of
Defense), the Director of Planning for International Peace Cooperation, Ministry of
Defense, and senior officers of the SDF (colonel level) reveal a keen interest in the
SDF’s contribution to international peace cooperation including peace monitoring in
conflict areas including Mindanao.xiii They are cognizant of the political sensitivities
within Japan. As mentioned earlier, the SDF is ready but the top politicians
(regardless of parties) are not.
Notwithstanding Japan’s tentative peace-building in Mindanao, the Aquino
Administration still sought the Northeast Asian country’s assistance to organize an
unprecedented peace talks between President Aquino and Murad, the top MILF leader
at a neutral forum at Narita, Japan in August 2011. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs noted: “On the evening of August 4 (Thursday), an informal meeting was held
between H.E. Mr. Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines
and Mr. Al Haj Murad, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) in the suburbs of Tokyo for the solution of the issue of the
peace in Mindanao. Japan heartily welcomes that this meeting became a meaningful
opportunity for smoothly proceeding with the Mindanao Peace Process. This was the
first time that the President of the Republic of the Philippines and the Chair of MILF
held a meeting. The Government of Japan supported the holding of the meeting as
requested by the Government of the Philippines to hold it in Japan. There was an
expression of gratitude to Japan in the statement of the Government of the Republic
of the Philippines, and Japan is pleased to have been able to contribute to the
realization of the meeting”.xiv
Epilogue
“Human security” and “peace-building” are allied concepts to address the issues of
(civil) war and peace which impact not only on state sovereignty but also the survival
and wellbeing of societies, communities and individuals. Indeed, the twin pillars of
human security and peace-building are consonant to post-war Japan’s pacifist culture
and their underpinning of the country’s foreign policy is acceptable domestically and
abroad. However, there are also the limitation and complacency engendered by this