Min Aung Hlaing Gets Malaysia Red Carpet — SkimNews
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- Min Aung Hlaing arrives in Malaysia Wednesday for two-day talks with PM Anwar Ibrahim, seeking international legitimacy after being shunned by regional nations since his 2021 coup.
- Malaysia has deported roughly 10,000 Myanmar nationals since January and hosts about 193,000 registered Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers, pressing repatriations despite UN warnings of serious danger amid a civil war that has killed an estimated 100,000 people.
- Anwar conditioned his invitation on Naypyitaw accepting Rohingya returns; International Crisis Group's Richard Horsey said Min Aung Hlaing will present the visit as recognition regardless of how Malaysia frames it.
- Myanmar's military carried out Rakhine state airstrikes within the last fortnight killing at least 58 people at a busy market — condemned by UN Secretary-General António Guterres as the deadliest since a December hospital bombing.
- ASEAN has barred Min Aung Hlaing from summits since 2021 over his failure to implement a peace roadmap, but member states Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam have hosted him bilaterally, alongside trips to China, India, Russia and Belarus.
Why it matters: The visit hands a Western-sanctioned junta leader a stage to claim legitimacy while Malaysia extracts cooperation on Rohingya repatriation. ASEAN's split — excluding Min Aung Hlaing from summits while individual member states host him bilaterally — shows the bloc's five-point peace roadmap has failed to bind its own members.
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