Myanmar leader to visit Malaysia after migrant returns begin
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Malaysia announced in July its plan to return about 5,000 Myanmar nationals. The first group of nearly 1,500 returnees arrived in Myanmar on Oct 4.
PHOTO: EPA
- Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing will visit Malaysia soon as Kuala Lumpur begins returning thousands of Myanmar migrants, aiming for diplomatic progress and migrant repatriation.
- Malaysia hosts over 126,000 Rohingya refugees, raising concerns from UN and rights groups about potential abuses upon their return to Myanmar.
- Malaysia's PM Anwar Ibrahim insists on proper treatment for returnees and welcomes Myanmar's pledge for "safe and dignified" repatriations amid ongoing civil conflict and human rights issues.
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KUALA LUMPUR – Myanmar’s coup leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing will visit Malaysia “in the next few days”, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Oct 6, after Kuala Lumpur launched a plan to return thousands of Myanmar migrants.
The visit comes after a group of nearly 1,500 returnees reached Myanmar on Oct 4, with rights groups warning that Rohingya refugees could be among those sent back.
Malaysia says about 5,000 Myanmar nationals have agreed to “voluntary” return, but the authorities have not commented on the ethnicities of those who have returned.
“During the visit of the president of Myanmar to Malaysia in the next few days, the foreign minister, the home minister and I will raise issues towards a solution,” Anwar told the Malaysian Parliament on Oct 6.
Naypyitaw has repatriated nearly 10,000 migrants from Malaysia in 2026, its state media said on Oct 5.
Anwar said Myanmar had to “guarantee proper treatment to their own people so that there is no abuse, oppression and violation of human rights”.
“But for me, any country that wants to bring back their people from our country, we welcome that,” he added.
The Malaysian visit will be among Min Aung Hlaing’s most diplomatically significant since ASEAN leaders froze out Myanmar’s junta following the 2021 coup and ensuing civil war.
But Anwar said in September he would welcome the Myanmar leader to expedite migrant repatriations.
“I want to tell him that we can be friends and trade. We can accept Myanmar, but they must accept (their refugees) back,” Anwar said during a podcast interview.
The repatriation plan follows what Malaysia’s human rights commission has called “growing hostility, discriminatory rhetoric and online attacks” against the Rohingya in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Largest refugee group
Malaysia hosts more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the United Nations refugee agency, including more than 126,000 Rohingya from Myanmar – its largest refugee community.
The UN and rights groups have raised concerns about the repatriations, with monitors fearing that any Rohingya could face a new wave of abuses in Myanmar, where they are denied full citizenship.
Rights advocates view Min Aung Hlaing as the primary architect of a 2017 crackdown, which is being weighed by the International Court of Justice as potential genocide.
Myanmar in October pledged “safe and dignified” returns for its citizens displaced abroad.
The country is also riven by violence, with 50 killed last week in a military air strike on a marketplace in western Rakhine state.
“This is no time to return anyone forcibly to a country plagued by egregious human rights violations and abuses,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said last week.
Min Aung Hlaing ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, plunging Myanmar into a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people, according to monitor ACLED.
After elections widely dismissed as a charade, Min Aung Hlaing became civilian leader and launched a drive for regional recognition.
Malaysia will be the fifth nation of the 11-member ASEAN grouping – following Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia – to welcome him since taking up the presidency.
He has also visited China – which previously backed him behind the scenes, according to analysts – as well as India and Russia. AFP