Myanmar's military-backed president Min Aung Hlaing arrives in Malaysia on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, for a two-day official visit and talks with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim — the latest step in a regional push to rehabilitate the junta chief-turned-civilian leader after years of diplomatic isolation. The visit has already drawn sharp condemnation from human rights groups, who call the Malaysian red carpet a reward for a brutal regime.
Why Malaysia is rolling out the red carpet
According to Reuters, Min Aung Hlaing's visit centers on one of Southeast Asia's most pressing humanitarian files: the repatriation of thousands of Myanmar nationals living in Malaysia. A Malaysian government statement on Tuesday framed the trip as an opportunity for the prime minister to "sustain his direct engagement with Myanmar," with key bilateral issues including the "voluntary, dignified and safe repatriation of Myanmar nationals of all ethnic groups who have been in Malaysia illegally."
Anwar has defended the invitation openly, describing it as payback for Myanmar's agreement to take back its nationals. Malaysia deported the first batch in a phased repatriation of some 50,000 Myanmar nationals on September 29, with roughly 1,400 to 1,500 arriving in Yangon that week. Speaking on a podcast, Anwar said he wanted to tell Myanmar's leader: "We can be friends and trade. We can accept Myanmar, but they must accept their refugees back."
UN and rights groups warn returnees face danger
The repatriation plan has triggered alarm far beyond Kuala Lumpur. The United Nations and rights groups have warned that returnees could face serious danger amid Myanmar's raging civil war, with monitors fearing new waves of abuse — particularly for the Rohingya, whom Myanmar denies full citizenship. Malaysia hosts more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UN refugee agency, including more than 126,000 Rohingya, its largest refugee community.
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) condemned the visit outright, warning it risks legitimizing the coup leader and his regime. The group noted that Min Aung Hlaing faces an international arrest warrant in Argentina over crimes against humanity targeting the Rohingya, and urged Malaysia not to confer legitimacy on the regime by signing agreements or issuing joint statements.
"Malaysia should not be receiving Min Aung Hlaing at all. Every red carpet rolled out for him tells the people of Myanmar, who live under airstrikes and forced conscription, that the region has made its peace with what is being done to them." — Mercy Chriesty Barends, APHR chairperson, to The Irrawaddy
A slow march back to legitimacy
Myanmar has been in turmoil since Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in February 2021, triggering a nationwide civil war that has killed an estimated 100,000 people and displaced more than 3.5 million. Although he and other senior officials have been excluded from ASEAN summits since 2021 over the failure to implement the bloc's peace roadmap, individual member states have steadily moved to rebuild ties with Naypyitaw.
Malaysia will be the fifth ASEAN member — after Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — to receive Min Aung Hlaing since he took up the civilian presidency following a widely criticized military-engineered election. He has also visited China, India, Russia and Belarus. Analysts told the South China Morning Post these meetings are starting to look like a gradual normalization of his government without any corresponding improvement on the ground — a trend that weakens ASEAN's collective leverage.
The takeaway
Anwar's gamble is straightforward: trade legitimacy for repatriation. Whether Myanmar keeps its side of the bargain — and whether returning migrants stay safe — will determine if this week's red carpet is remembered as pragmatic diplomacy or a moral compromise that emboldened a war-torn regime.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Long Road Ahead B (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: Reuters; South China Morning Post; The Irrawaddy