Myanmar Junta Leader Courts Malaysia on Legitimacy Tour — SkimNews
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- U Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Malaysia for his ninth foreign trip since rebranding as civilian president, having previously visited Russia, China, India, Belarus, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.
- Min Aung Hlaing met Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday to discuss the repatriation of Myanmar asylum-seekers in Malaysia and investment opportunities in war-torn Myanmar.
- Anwar Ibrahim declined to utter any critical word about Min Aung Hlaing's rule of terror, describing the coup and its aftermath only as 'recent developments' that had 'somewhat blocked' bilateral progress.
- Min Aung Hlaing traded his military uniform for civilian clothes earlier this year after taking the presidential post, orchestrating a 'remarkable makeover' that has drawn international recognition.
- Min Aung Hlaing presided over a military coup five years ago that plunged Myanmar into full-blown civil war and made the country a global outcast.
- ASEAN continues to officially ban Min Aung Hlaing from attending its summits despite his visits to five member states, which Myanmar observers cited as the international affirmation he still craves.
Why it matters: Min Aung Hlaing's ability to secure meetings with the Malaysian PM — while ASEAN still bars him from its summits — exposes ASEAN's enforcement weakness: its own members are quietly legitimizing the leader of a member state whose post-coup civil war has driven asylum-seekers across the region. Malaysia's silence on repression, paired with talk of investment, signals that economic access to Myanmar may be decoupling from human rights pressure.
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