Anwar Pledges to Reintegrate Myanmar Into ASEAN — SkimNews
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- Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia would do "whatever possible" to reintegrate Myanmar into ASEAN after meeting Min Aung Hlaing in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 8, while pledging continued repatriation of Myanmar nationals despite UN and rights group criticism over civil war risks.
- Min Aung Hlaing, barred from ASEAN summits since the 2021 coup, became president in April after an election Western nations and rights groups called a sham; he has since visited Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam and is now on a two-day Malaysia trip seeking international legitimacy.
- Malaysia has repatriated 10,493 Myanmar nationals so far — including roughly 1,500 sent back in September on Myanmar navy ships — with the broader programme potentially deporting up to 5,000 people held in immigration detention.
- Min Aung Hlaing told reporters he would dispatch navy ships to retrieve Myanmar citizens from Malaysian immigration detention centres "as soon as possible" due to favourable weather, and invited Anwar to visit Myanmar.
- The meeting made no specific mention of Rohingya repatriation, even though Malaysia hosts more than 193,000 Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers — about 65% Rohingya — while Myanmar faces an ongoing ICJ genocide case over the 2017 Rakhine military crackdown.
Why it matters: Malaysia's pivot normalizes engagement with a regime barred from ASEAN summits since 2021, while accelerating deportations of Myanmar nationals to a country in active civil war. Anwar positions himself as the broker reintegrating a pariah state, while the 193,000+ Myanmar refugees in Malaysia — 65% Rohingya — face continued deportation with no specific protections raised at the meeting.
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