KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister and Asean chair Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday that he would meet Myanmar's isolated junta chief in Bangkok this week to push for the extension of a ceasefire between the military government and rebel groups to help earthquake relief.
As the chair of the regional Asean bloc this year, Mr Anwar said the meeting with Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday was being held on humanitarian grounds, as there were no forthcoming formal engagements between Myanmar and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
More than 3,600 people were killed in the March 28 disaster which destroyed more than 5,000 buildings, according to official figures, and left more than two million in need of assistance, said the UN.
Myanmar’s junta announced a ceasefire following the magnitude-7.7 quake, although monitors say fighting has continued.
Mr Anwar said he would appeal for the truce to continue beyond its April 22 expiry date.
“I thank Gen Min Aung Hlaing for responding positively to our call…. During my meeting with him, I will push for the ceasefire to be extended,” Mr Anwar said.
“We are sending our rescue team there, so we want to ensure safety,” he said, adding the purpose of the meeting was to “facilitate humanitarian aid in light of the severe earthquake disaster”.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when the military’s overthrow of an elected civilian government sparked a civil war.
The junta and rebel groups have announced unilateral ceasefires to support the quake relief efforts, but have accused each other of violating the agreements.
Asean wants Myanmar to implement the bloc’s five-point peace plan to halt the fighting, and has barred the ruling generals from attending most of its meetings over their failure to comply.
Mr Anwar said Malaysia would continue its humanitarian assistance for the earthquake-hit country through a temporary field hospital run by the Malaysian Armed Forces.
Asean has barred junta officials from summits after their 2021 coup deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and plunged Myanmar into a fractious civil war.
But Mr Anwar — who holds the rotating chairmanship of Asean — said he would meet Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday to discuss the safety of Malaysian aid workers sent to help after the earthquake.
Mr Anwar said his talks would take place on the sidelines of meetings with Thai leaders to discuss the current flood situation along the southern border with Malaysia.
Since seizing power by force, Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing has mostly confined his trips to visits with his military’s main arms supplier Russia and the country’s key economic partner and political backer China.
But earlier this month he ventured to Bangkok in the aftermath of the quake to attend a Bimstec economic summit of seven nations around the Bay of Bengal. Critics said the meeting legitimised his military rule.
The 10-country Asean bloc has led so far fruitless diplomatic efforts to resolve Myanmar’s civil war and has shunned Min Aung Hlaing over a lack of progress on their peace plan.
But Mr Anwar said it took only one phone call for the junta chief to agree to meet.
“He recognises our friendship and he is ready to talk,” he said.
In Chiang Mai, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra confirmed Mr Anwar would make a “working visit” to Thailand to discuss various issues including Asean as a manufacturing base and how the bloc can leverage its position in the negotiations with the US on tariffs, as well as the peace process in Myanmar.
Thaksin on Sunday said he had met Min Aung Hlaing in Bangkok earlier this month and there were chances of the Myanmar junta and armed ethnic militias agreeing to peace talks.
“We aren’t going to take sides. We only want to create a forum for them to initiate talks,” Thaksin said, adding the talks with ethnic groups or the release of political prisoners in Myanmar would be a good start to the peace process that Asean wanted to see.
