Malaysia’s Anwar is also widely expected to push for progress towards ending the four-year civil war in Myanmar that has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions more. Last month, Anwar went to Bangkok to meet junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who he said gave an “assurance” to extend a ceasefire and allow unimpeded aid into Myanmar after the March 28 earthquake that ravaged the country and killed at least 3,800 people. “We have made remarkable progress … it is a good beginning,” Anwar said on Wednesday of the concessions made by the junta after what he described as the “first serious engagement” by Asean in a decade. The junta has not stopped its aerial campaign across the country, killing 22 people – mostly students – in a strike on a school on May 12, while the embattled Min Aung Hlaing has in recent weeks appeared to receive the backing of key allies China and Russia. Anwar said he was under no illusion that his year as Asean chair would bring any significant change to the recurring unrest in Myanmar. “We do our best, but I do not have big dreams of solving the problems of the world in one year,” he said. “The first series of engagements has happened. Now we have to move beyond that.” Asean has yet to lift a ban on senior junta officials from attending Asean meetings for flouting a five-point deal meant to pave the way for peace talks – and is not clear if representatives from Myanmar’s junta have been invited to next week’s summit. The junta has been escalating attacks on civilians and lining up a deeply flawed election for December in an attempt to emboss its legitimacy. Critics say Anwar should use his chairmanship of Asean to start a new process on Myanmar that cajoles the junta to agree to an immediate ceasefire, brings in pro-democracy rivals and resets the constitution with the army supplicant to any future elected government before the poll is held. “The Myanmar military must be made permanently subordinate to a democratically elected civilian government and parliament,” said a joint statement by former Malaysian foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah and Marzuki Darusman, Yanghee Lee and Chris Sidoti, founding members of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar. “Prime Minister Anwar has the opportunity to secure Malaysia’s success as Asean chair and to salvage Asean’s credibility after years of failure on Myanmar. He has bet his reputation on it. The people of Myanmar have much more at stake.” (ICE KUALA LUMPUR)

Fonte notizia: 26 maggio 2025, Kuala Lumpur