Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim held a half-hour meeting with Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing at his office in Putrajaya today, with the voluntary, safe and dignified return of Myanmar nationals held in Malaysia at the centre of the discussion, NST reported.
Min Aung Hlaing received an official state welcome earlier, including an inspection of a guard of honour mounted by the First Battalion of the Royal Ranger Regiment. Anwar said the talks built on a dialogue he opened with the Myanmar leader in Bangkok early last year. In a social media post after the meeting, he said the two sides spoke openly about matters of shared concern between the countries. “Our half-hour discussion focused on the plight of Myanmar refugees in Malaysia and the prospects for their voluntary, safe and dignified return, regardless of ethnicity,” he said.
According to Malay Mail, Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said the meeting did not amount to recognition of Myanmar’s government. “This meeting does not mean we recognise the Myanmar government. It is intended to find a solution to the longstanding issue of Myanmar refugees in our country,” he said at the opening of the Inanam Sentral National Information Dissemination Centre in Kota Kinabalu.
Anwar also held out the prospect of Myanmar’s reintegration into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has kept the country out of its summits since late 2021 over its failure to act on the Five-Point Consensus. The visit makes Malaysia the fifth ASEAN member state to host Min Aung Hlaing since he took office as president in April, after Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, The Diplomat noted. Anwar has drawn criticism for repatriating people to a country still in the grip of civil war, and for hosting Min Aung Hlaing, whose policies sent many of those refugees fleeing in the first place.
Malaysia completed the first phase of its voluntary repatriation programme for Myanmar detainees on 29 September, involving 1,476 people. Fahmi said a further 3,542 detainees had been agreed with Myanmar for a second phase, with the date yet to be fixed. The two sides have agreed on the repatriation of around 5,000 Myanmar nationals held in immigration detention centres across the country.
At the joint press conference in Putrajaya, Min Aung Hlaing said his administration would only take back refugees confirmed to hold Myanmar citizenship. That condition rules out most Rohingya, who have been denied citizenship by successive Myanmar governments despite generations of residence in Rakhine State.
Thousands have fled Myanmar since a military coup in 2021 triggered widespread conflict. The coup followed a campaign of atrocity crimes by security forces in August 2017 against the Rohingya, which killed thousands and destroyed hundreds of villages across northern Rakhine. As of February, Malaysia housed about 193,800 displaced people from Myanmar across various ethnic groups, including Rohingya and Chin, according to UNHCR data, though rights groups estimate many more remain unregistered.
