Anwar Backs Myanmar's Full Return to ASEAN — SkimNews
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- Anwar Ibrahim pledged to work toward Myanmar's full reintegration into ASEAN, telling reporters Malaysia would enhance collaboration "without prejudice" following an Oct 8 meeting with Min Aung Hlaing in Kuala Lumpur.
- Min Aung Hlaing is on a two-day visit to Malaysia seeking international legitimacy after being installed as civilian president in April following an election Western nations and rights groups called a sham.
- Myanmar has been barred from ASEAN high-level summits since the 2021 coup for failing to make meaningful progress on the bloc's Five-Point Consensus to end hostilities, though Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam have already re-engaged with the junta leader.
- Malaysia has repatriated 10,493 Myanmar nationals so far, with last month's naval transfer of roughly 1,500 people part of a wider programme that could see up to 5,000 deported overall.
- Min Aung Hlaing said he would dispatch additional Myanmar navy ships to bring back citizens held in Malaysian immigration detention centres while weather conditions remain favorable, and extended an invitation for Anwar to visit Myanmar.
- Anwar and Min Aung Hlaing did not discuss Rohingya refugee repatriation, despite more than 193,000 Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia—about 65% of them Rohingya—facing rising harassment at home in Malaysia.
- The UN and rights groups have criticized the repatriation programme, citing risks from Myanmar's ongoing civil war; Malaysia says it can no longer absorb refugees it considers a financial burden and security risk.
Why it matters: Malaysia becomes the latest ASEAN member to re-engage Myanmar's junta, giving Min Aung Hlaing diplomatic legitimacy the bloc withheld after the 2021 coup—while accelerating deportations of Myanmar nationals back to an active civil war, with 193,000+ refugees still in Malaysia and the Rohingya question conspicuously off the table.
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