MANILA, Nov 24 (AFP) - President Gloria Arroyo praised Malaysia on Saturday for the swift arrest of Muslim leader Nur Misuari, whose forces embarked on a fresh rebellion this week in the southern Philippines. 
	
	
 Arroyo was "very satisfied that the Malaysian government has been efficient enough to arrest him," her spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao told DZBB radio here. 
	
	
 Foreign department spokesman Victoriano Lecaros said the arrest should serve as "a warning to terrorists that they will find themselves on inhospitable ground within ASEAN," referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 
	
	
 Tiglao separately told AFP that Manila would hold talks with Kuala Lumpur on the deportation of the former guerrilla leader turned politician. The neighbors lack an extradition treaty. 
	
	
 He suggested that Kuala Lumpur would have to take the initiative, saying that Misuari had apparently violated Malaysian law by entering the country without a passport. 
	
	
 Manila wants to put Misuari on trial for rebellion in connection with a revolt on Monday which claimed at least 113 lives. 
	
	
 The Philippine foreign ministry this week cancelled Misuari's regular and diplomatic passports as a Jolo court ordered his arrest. 
	
	
 He is the founder of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) group and governor of the Muslim self-rule Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). 
	
	
 Misuari launched his revolt after Arroyo decided to back an MNLF rival in an election to be held Monday to choose the next ARMM governor. 
	
	
 The government has deployed thousands of troops to Jolo to deter attempts by Misuari followers to disrupt the balloting. 
	
	
 Malaysia's official Bernama news agency said that Misuari and six of his men were arrested on an island off the Malaysian state of Sabah, which is on Borneo island, while trying to enter the country illegally. 
	
	
 A source at the Malaysian embassy in Manila said the Royal Malaysian Police intercepted Misuari's speedboat and arrested all its occupants. 
	
	
 The boat was being checked for weapons, said the source, who would not be identified. 
	
	
 Malaysia, which had given sanctuary to Misuari and his guerrillas in the early 1970s, has called on Misuari to end a bloody six-day-old rebellion by his followers in the southern Philippine island of Jolo. 
	
	
 Lecaros, from the foreign ministry, said the arrest was a sign that the ASEAN, "particularly Malaysia, is succeeding in the effort against terrorism." 
	
	
 The group pledged to counter terrorism at a summit in Brunei this month as well as a summit with their main trading partners in Shanghai in October. 
	
	
 ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 
	
	
 Lecaros said that Misuari had developed ties with the Abu Sayyaf rebel group that has carried out a spree of kidnappings. 
	
	
 US and Philippine officials say the group has links with Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 4,000 people. 
	
	
 "Misuari is not just any lawbreaking person," Lecaros said. 
	
	
 "The Philippine government has information that Mr. Misuari has of late developed some links with the Abu Sayyaf about whom more need not be said," he said. 
	
	
 Bernama quoted Malaysian police chief Norian Mai as saying police would try to hand Misuari and his men over to the Philippine government as soon as possible. 
	
	
 Tiglao said he had been informed that Misuari was taken to the Sabah state capital of Kota Kinabalu. 
	
	
 He expressed the government's determination to put Misuari in jail. 
	
	
 "Definitely," he said. "We have to enforce the law."