Malaysia offers to invite Myanmar leader in Rohingya repatriation push

Malaysia has invited Myanmar’s military ruler for a visit to the country in a bid to expedite the repatriation of Rohingya refugees.

Rohingya crisis: Aid falls and hope fades

Malaysia is offering to invite Myanmar’s military ruler for an official visit to the country in a bid to expedite the repatriation of Rohingya refugees.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim made the offer on Wednesday, which, if accepted, would mark another step out of isolation for Myanmar’s military-backed President Min Aung Hlaing.

Min Aung Hlaing, a retired general who seized power in a 2021 coup, has been on a quest ⁠for international legitimacy since becoming president in April.

“I invited him to say we can be friends, we can trade, we can accept Myanmar, but Myanmar must accept them [Rohingya refugees] back,” Malaysia’s president said on a podcast.

Malaysia has been one of the most vocal critics of Myanmar’s former military government and had repeatedly expressed frustration at its refusal to cease hostilities.

“To me, that’s better diplomacy than just shouting angrily at Myanmar. Who’s going to take them? Where do we ‌send ‌them? They don’t even have Myanmar citizenship,” he said, adding that a different approach was needed to resolve the issue.

“We, following ASEAN, don’t want direct relations with Myanmar. So who are we ‌supposed to negotiate with?”

If Myanmar accepts the conditional offer, it would mark Min Aung Hlaing’s fifth visit to an ASEAN member state, after ⁠his recent visits to Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. He has also visited China, India and Russia.

ASEAN has refused to recognise Myanmar’s election. Since 2021, the body has barred Myanmar’s leaders from its summits.

A civil war in Myanmar has killed an estimated 100,000 people, with the military widely accused of atrocities against the mostly Muslim Rohingya population, which the military has denied.

Malaysia has long been a haven for Rohingya fleeing persecution at home, even though it is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and does not formally recognise refugee status.

Nevertheless, it hosts more than 126,000 Rohingya from Myanmar.

Prime Minister Anwar announced in July that Myanmar’s military-backed government had agreed to take back 5,000 members of the persecuted Rohingya minority amid rising tensions with local communities in Malaysia.

Malaysia has finalised the first phase of a voluntary repatriation programme that will see at least 1,500 eligible Myanmar refugees return home on September 29, the government said.

马来西亚已邀请缅甸军方领导人访问该国，以加快罗兴亚难民的遣返进程。

罗兴亚危机：援助减少，希望破灭

马来西亚提议邀请缅甸军方领导人对该国进行正式访问，以加快罗兴亚难民的遣返进程。

马来西亚总理安瓦尔·易卜拉欣周三提出了这一提议，如果该提议被接受，将标志着缅甸军方支持的总统敏昂莱在摆脱孤立状态方面又迈出了一步。

敏昂莱是一位退役将军，他在 2021 年发动政变夺取政权，自 4 月就任总统以来，他一直在寻求国际合法性。

马来西亚总统在播客节目中表示：“我邀请他来是想告诉他，我们可以做朋友，我们可以进行贸易，我们可以接纳缅甸，但缅甸必须接纳他们（罗兴亚难民）返回家园。”

马来西亚一直是缅甸前军政府最直言不讳的批评者之一，并多次对其拒绝停止敌对行动表示失望。

“在我看来，这比对缅甸大声咆哮要好得多。谁来接收他们？我们该把他们送到哪里？他们甚至没有缅甸国籍，”他说道，并补充说，需要采取不同的方法来解决这个问题。

“我们遵循东盟的原则，不希望与缅甸建立直接关系。那么我们应该和谁谈判呢？”

如果缅甸接受这一有条件的提议，这将是敏昂莱继近期访问老挝、泰国、柬埔寨和越南之后，第五次访问东盟成员国。他还访问过中国、印度和俄罗斯。

东盟拒绝承认缅甸的选举结果。自2021年以来，该组织一直禁止缅甸领导人参加其峰会。

缅甸内战已造成约 10 万人死亡，军方被广泛指控对以穆斯林为主的罗兴亚人犯下暴行，但军方否认了这些指控。

尽管马来西亚并非 1951 年联合国难民公约的缔约国，也不正式承认难民身份，但长期以来，马来西亚一直是逃离家乡迫害的罗兴亚人的避难所。

然而，这里却收容了超过 126,000 名来自缅甸的罗兴亚人。

7月，安瓦尔总理宣布，在与马来西亚当地社区关系日益紧张之际，缅甸军方支持的政府已同意接收5000名受迫害的罗兴亚少数族裔成员。

马来西亚政府表示，马来西亚已完成自愿遣返计划的第一阶段，至少 1500 名符合条件的缅甸难民将于 9 月 29 日返回家园。