by Joseph Masilamany

The Malaysian prime minister will meet with the leader of Myanmar’s military junta on Thursday to ask him to extend the ceasefire declared after last month’s devastating earthquake. Concern is growing in various quarters that the military regime might me trying to win support. Malaysia plans to send aid for the population. ASEAN insists on compliance with its five-point peace plan, which has so far proved to be a failure.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will meet General Min Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar's military junta, in Bangkok on Thursday.

At a press conference today, Mr Ibrahim said that the talks will focus on extending the ceasefire to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the country, which was struck by an earthquake in late March; however, many are concerned that the meeting will help legitimise the military junta, which was excluded from Southeast Asian summits in the past few years.

General Min Aung Hlaing's visit comes at a delicate time for Myanmar, overwhelmed by one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades.

In addition to the earthquake that razed entire villages in the Mandalay and Sagaing regions, the country is reeling from more than four years of civil war, which broke out after the military carried out a coup d'état in February 2021 against the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

After the quake, junta forces and armed resistance groups began fighting, which intensified over the years.

Yesterday, Anwar said that the meeting would take place “purely on humanitarian grounds,” but so far the military led by General Min Aung Hlaing has withheld aid to the population and continued air strikes against resistance groups.

Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire raising doubts about their sincerity and about the sustainability of the truce.

A few days after the earthquake, General Min Aung Hlaing flew to Bangkok for a meeting on economic cooperation between the countries on the Bay of Bengal, in an attempt to reboot relations with the international community after years of isolation.

On that occasion, the general spoke with former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, father of the current office holder, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, and advisor to Anwar Ibrahim on issues concerning the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

According to some commentators, General Min Aung Hlaing is trying to gain the support of other countries, besides Russia and China, for his plan to hold elections between December 2025 and January 2026.

However, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) have urged Anwar to pressure China to hold peace talks that also involve the National Unity Government, ethnic armed resistance groups and civil society groups, not just the junta.

ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, has so far simply reiterated its call on the military regime to respect the so-called five-point consensus, approved in April 2021.

The plan would include, among other things, an immediate end to the violence, the start of an inclusive dialogue with all parties involved, and the guarantee of humanitarian access.

But following the coup junta's stubborn non-compliance, Myanmar’s generals were excluded from high-level meetings of the regional bloc.

“Our assistance is about saving lives, not taking sides,” Anwar said, stressing Malaysia's focus on humanitarian principles, despite diplomatic challenges.

Among the concrete measures already announced is the deployment of 35 medical officers from Malaysia’s Armed Forces to set up a temporary field hospital in Myanmar.

Malaysian Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that the facility – whose capacity and location will depend on the approval of the Myanmar government – will provide orthopaedic, trauma and emergency surgery for earthquake victims.

“We’re ready; we’re just waiting for approval and direction from Myanmar on where to deploy,” the minister said.

Malaysia’s health mission is part of a broader effort of regional cooperation with the aim of building up Myanmar’s healthcare capacity; this includes training courses for local medical teams, and coordinated action among ASEAN member states to maximise the effectiveness of aid.

• malaysia
• myanmar
• thailand
• asean
• anwar ibrahim
• civil war
• earthquake
• humanitarian aid