Burmese leader seeks legitimacy in Malaysia visit

Myanmar’s junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Malaysia yesterday for talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, as the military-backed leader once shunned by regional nations seeks international legitimacy.

The two-day visit comes as Malaysia pushes ahead with a controversial move to repatriate thousands of Myanmar nationals, despite warnings from the UN and rights groups that returnees could face serious danger amid a raging civil war.

“The visit provides the prime minister with an opportunity to sustain his direct engagement with Myanmar,” the Malaysian government said in a statement on Tuesday.

Photo: Myanmar presidential press and information bureau via via EPA

Key bilateral issues include the “voluntary, dignified and safe repatriation of Myanmar nationals of all ethnic groups who have been in Malaysia illegally,” it added.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, triggering a nationwide civil war that has killed an estimated 100,000 people and displaced more than 3.5 million.

The military engineered a widely criticized election that allowed Min Aung Hlaing, who is subject to a raft of Western sanctions, to take up a civilian role — a transition that has sparked some moves toward re-engagement with Myanmar.

Although Min Aung Hlaing and other senior Myanmar officials have been excluded from ASEAN summits since 2021 over their failure to implement a peace road map brokered by the group, individual countries in the region have moved to rebuild ties with Naypyitaw.

Since formally becoming president in April, Min Aung Hlaing has visited ASEAN members Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and also made trips to China, India, Russia and Belarus.

In Malaysia, following a wave of online hate speech and misinformation earlier this year, pressure on undocumented migrants and refugees has grown, particularly against Rohingya Muslims, many of whom fled a brutal 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh.

Last month, Anwar said in a podcast that he would invite Min Aung Hlaing for an official visit if Myanmar accepted the return of thousands of Rohingya refugees.

“Under pressure to send refugees back, Anwar needs Naypyitaw’s cooperation, and a visit is the price,” International Crisis Group senior Asia adviser Richard Horsey said. “He says this is not recognition, but Min Aung Hlaing will present it as exactly that.”

Fortify Rights senior human rights specialist Yap Lay Sheng agreed, saying that the Migrant returns are the “only reason” Malaysia wants to engage with Myanmar.

“For so many years Malaysia has shown the military regime the cold shoulder,” he said. “Suddenly there’s a 180 degree about turn to welcome the regime with open arms.”

Malaysia has deported about 10,000 Myanmar nationals since January, according to Anwar, who said Burmese authorities had given assurances those returning would not be harmed.

Although Malaysia has said the repatriations are strictly voluntary, the UN has raised concerns about the move, warning that people sent back to Myanmar might face serious risks.

Rights groups have also urged Malaysia to halt the returns, citing the ongoing violence and risk of forced conscription.

Despite repeated calls for an end to the violence, including from ASEAN, the civil war in Myanmar continues unabated.

The Burmese military has carried out several airstrikes within the last fortnight in Rakhine, where it is battling a rebel group, killing at least 58 people and injuring dozens of others, including at a busy market.

The attack was the deadliest since a hospital bombing in December and drew condemnation from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

ASEAN’s current chair, the Philippines, also expressed concern over the airstrike.

“Nothing in the region’s response gives Naypyitaw any reason to think they will come at a diplomatic cost, including Min Aung Hlaing’s red carpet in Kuala Lumpur,” Horsey said.

The picturesque Lac des Brenets between France and Switzerland has dried up after a record-breaking hot summer, leaving locals crying out for help to save the lake. Indeed, the words “HELP” and “SOS” have been scratched out in the weeds now flourishing on the exposed lake bed. The drought has ruined pleasure boat tourism, while some question whether the lake will ever return to enduring full health. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” said historian David Favre, who lives in Les Brenets.

“As children, we used to spend all our summers swimming at the beach, having fun by the water, diving, jumping in and sometimes even

STRAIN ON TIES: The police arrested a 20-year-old man who matched the description of a suspect caught on CCTV leaving a hotel in Naha with the victim’s belongings A US Marine stationed on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of the murder of a Japanese woman, police said yesterday. The suspect “killed the 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet on Saturday,” a local police spokesman said.

US Ambassador George Glass posted on social media that he had spoken with Japan’s foreign ministry and Okinawa’s governor to offer “our sincere condolences and pledging full cooperation as the investigation continues.” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the crime “exceptionally brutal and vicious” on X. The government has urged the US “to provide maximum cooperation

A US lawmaker has called on Starbucks to close its first stores in Xinjiang, China, calling it a “morally bankrupt decision” to do business in a region where Uighurs face repression. China denies widespread accusations about abuses of the Uighurs, a mainly Muslim people, saying its policies there were aimed at combating terrorism, separatism and religious extremism. Starbucks opened its first two stores this week in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, including one at the city centre’s grand bazaar and a second at its international airport.

John Moolenaar, chairman of the Select Committee on China of the House of Representatives, called on Starbucks to “immediately

The winner of this year’s Fat Bear Week has been crowned after a nail-biting final — and it’s the son of a former champion. Backpack, a 20-year-old male beloved by rangers in Alaska for his quiet determination, edged out female fellow finalist Dancing Queen in the annual ursine eating competition at Katmai National Park. More than 2.3 million people voted in the week-long competition that sees bears unwittingly jostle in a series of head-to-head contests to decide which one of them has most impressively piled on the pounds ahead of hibernation.

Viewers watch a livestream of the enormous animals as they scoop salmon