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PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHBD #0131/01 1220752
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P 010752Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4187
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0145
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0118
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0533
RUSICWP/COMLOGWESTPAC  PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000131 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SINGAPORE FOR DAO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2018 
TAGS: MARR PREL RP BX
SUBJECT: SULTAN SAYS BRUNEI WILL STAY IN PHILIPPINES IMT 
EVEN IF MALAYSIA WITHDRAWS 
 
REF: A. MANILA 885 NOTAL 
     ¶B. MANILA 1021 NOTAL 
     ¶C. KUALA LUMPUR 336 NOTAL 
     ¶D. POST SIPRNET SITE 4-28-08 
     ¶E. 07 BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 252 NOTAL 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Emil M. Skodon for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST:  After a confused initial 
Bruneian reaction to Malaysia's announcement that it will 
begin a phased withdrawal of its peacekeeping troops from the 
International Monitoring Team (IMT) in Mindanao, the Sultan 
of Brunei has reportedly decided that Royal Brunei Armed 
Forces (RBAF) participation in the IMT will continue and may 
even be expanded to make up for the departing Malaysians. 
Final para of this cable contains a recommendation to 
consider involving the RBAF IMT contingent in Cotabato City 
with the forthcoming visit by the USNS Mercy, both to take 
advantage of its contacts with the local Muslim population 
and to help bolster Brunei's intent to continue its IMT 
mission.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) According to contacts in the Ministry of Defence 
(MOD), Malaysia's April 22 announcement that it would begin a 
phased withdrawal of its peacekeepers from the IMT caught the 
Government of Brunei (GOB) by surprise.  The GOB had known 
for some time that the Malaysians were considering such a 
move but was not informed in advance of the announcement 
itself, despite the fact that the RBAF contingent in the IMT 
is under Malaysian command. 
 
¶3. (C) The lack of advance warning led to a confused reaction 
by the MOD.  On April 24, the Borneo Bulletin daily quoted an 
MOD spokesperson as saying "Brunei will probably pull its men 
out of Mindanao if Malaysia does."  Privately, 
operational-level RBAF officers said they also assumed this 
would be the case.  Their civilian leadership, however, had 
other ideas.  Deputy Minister of Defence Pehin Yasmin (de 
facto head of the MOD, since the Sultan is titular Defence 
Minister) was reportedly furious at the announcement by the 
MOD spokesperson.  He instructed that a retraction of the 
spokesperson's statement be issued.  It was printed in the 
Borneo Bulletin on April 25, albeit tucked away on a back 
page. 
 
¶4. (C) As reported ref D, Yasmin himself at first concluded 
that the Malaysian announcement was just a ploy to put 
political pressure on the Government of the Philippines to 
conclude a peace deal soon with the Moro Islamic Liberation 
Front (MILF).  According to the Chief of Mission of a western 
Embassy who debriefed the Ambassador on his April 25 meeting 
with Yasmin, the Deputy Minister said the Malaysians were 
worried about opposition to such a deal within Philippines 
political circles.  Such opposition, they felt, was based 
more on a desire to embarrass President Arroyo for domestic 
political purposes than on the merits of any peace agreement. 
 By threatening to pull out of the IMT, Yasmin believed that 
Kuala Lumpur was trying to make the point to Arroyo's 
opponents that the status quo was unsustainable and a peace 
agreement should not be held hostage to their parochial 
political interests.  Yasmin reportedly said that the RBAF 
IMT contingent could continue operating even if the 
Malaysians did pull out.  He also, however, ducked the 
question about whether or not they actually would do so by 
explaining to the Chief of Mission that things would never 
get to that point, since Kuala Lumpur was only bluffing to 
put pressure on Manila. 
 
¶5. (C) Over the next few days the Bruneians apparently came 
around to a different view than Yasmin's original conclusion. 
 MOD contacts and Philippines Ambassador Benavidez began 
saying privately that the Malaysians were serious about 
pulling out, and Benavidez told Ambassador that her 
government was asking the GOB to stay on even if Malaysia 
withdrew.  According to the UK High Commission here, on April 
27 the visiting UK Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshall 
Sir Jock Stirrup, raised the issue with Sultan Haji Hassanal 
Bolkiah during his courtesy call on the Sultan.  The Sultan's 
answer was unequivocal:  the RBAF would stay on in the IMT 
even if Malaysia withdrew, and even would consider building 
up is contingent as a partial replacement for the departing 
Malaysians.  In response to a follow-up question, Sultan 
 
BANDAR SER 00000131  002 OF 002 
 
 
Bolkiah reportedly said that the GOB would even consider 
taking over the IMT lead from Malaysia, although, given its 
capacity constraints, it would much prefer that another 
country assume this role. 
 
¶6. (C) Comment:  There is no such thing as a final decision 
in Brunei.  Supposedly "final" decisions by the Sultan have 
been reversed by him or frustrated by his bureaucracy in the 
past, and there is always the possibility that the same could 
happen with respect to the IMT deployment.  For now, however, 
it appears that the GOB intent is to remain committed to the 
IMT.  The UK High Comm and we agree that the Sultan's 
decision reflects the GOB's increasing confidence in the 
RBAF's ability to carry out peacekeeping missions, based on 
the practical experience it has gained in Mindanao and the 
effort it has made to upgrade its peacekeeping capabilities 
through training opportunities such as the recently concluded 
Shanti Doot multilateral PKO exercise in Bangladesh.  End 
Comment. 
 
¶7. (C) Action Request:  We note from Ref A that the USNS 
Mercy plans to pay a port call in Cotabato City May 29 - June 
¶14.  That is where the bulk of the RBAF IMT contingent is 
stationed.  The Philippines Ambassador here says the 
Bruneians have done an admirable job of building good 
relations with Cotabato's Muslim population via distribution 
of Korans and other activities.  Embassy recommends that we 
consider inviting the Bruneian IMT contingent to become 
involved in supporting the USNS Mercy visit, both to benefit 
from its local contacts and to signal support for continued 
RBAF participation in the IMT in the wake of the Malaysian 
withdrawal announcement.  If Embassy Manila agrees this is 
feasible and desirable, we request instructions to approach 
the GOB with an invitation to become involved in the Mercy 
visit, and to provide it with a point of contact and 
preliminary suggestions for how the GOB could coordinate such 
support with Embassy Manila and the USNS Mercy.  Please 
advise. 
 
Visit Embassy Bandar Seri Begawan's classified web site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/bandarseribeg awan/ 
SKODON 
SKODON