Myanmar’s coup leader turned president Min Aung Hlaing will visit Malaysia “in the next few days,” Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Tuesday, after Kuala Lumpur launched a plan to return thousands of Myanmar migrants.
The visit, expected later this week, is part of a diplomatic push for legitimacy by Min Aung Hlaing, whose 2021 coup plunged Myanmar into civil war and who led the military during a 2017 crackdown that sent the Rohingya minority fleeing to Malaysia en masse.
“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.
Discussions are expected to focus on Malaysia’s plan, announced in July, to return about 5,000 Myanmar nationals, a move that has prompted concerns that Rohingya could be among those sent back.
The first group of nearly 1,500 returnees arrived in Myanmar on Sunday, although Malaysia has not said how many Rohingya were among them.