# Anwar Backs Myanmar's Return to ASEAN's Table, Tying It to Refugees Going Home > Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says he will push to bring Myanmar back into ASEAN's regional fold, following talks with Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing that touched on sending Myanmar refugees in Malaysia back home. The pairing of diplomatic reengagement with repatriation talks underscores how tangled Myanmar's path back to full regional standing has become. - Source: South East Money - Canonical URL: https://southeastmoney.id/article/anwar-backs-myanmar-s-return-to-asean-s-table-tying-it-to-refugees-going-home - Author: Tim - Section: News - Published: 2026-10-08T21:50:06.156Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T21:50:06.156Z - Tags: Malaysia, Myanmar, Anwar Ibrahim, Min Aung Hlaing, ASEAN, refugees, Southeast Asia --- Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has pledged to help bring Myanmar back into ASEAN's regional fold, a notable shift in tone after meeting with Myanmar's leader, Min Aung Hlaing, on October 8. The commitment came alongside talks on a separate but closely related issue, repatriating thousands of Myanmar refugees currently living in Malaysia, a pairing that signals how intertwined Myanmar's diplomatic rehabilitation has become with the fate of the people who fled its civil war in the first place. Myanmar has spent years on the margins of ASEAN's highest level gatherings, excluded from top meetings as the bloc pressed, with limited success, for progress on its own peace framework following the country's descent into civil conflict. Anwar's statement is one of the clearer public signals from a sitting ASEAN leader that the door back into full participation may be opening, even as the underlying conflict inside Myanmar remains unresolved. ## Repatriation as the price of reengagement The timing of the refugee discussion alongside the ASEAN reengagement pledge is unlikely to be coincidental. Malaysia has already begun sending some Myanmar refugees home, a move that has drawn concern from human rights advocates given the conditions many fled in the first place. Linking that repatriation process to warmer diplomatic ties suggests Malaysia sees the two issues as negotiated together rather than handled separately, using engagement with Myanmar's leadership as leverage, or cover, for managing its own refugee population. ## A complicated return Myanmar's path back to full ASEAN standing has never been a simple binary of in or out. The bloc has used partial exclusion, keeping Myanmar's representatives away from top level summits while maintaining lower level engagement, as a pressure tactic meant to push the country's military led government toward a political resolution. Anwar's willingness to publicly back Myanmar's return suggests patience within ASEAN for that pressure strategy may be wearing thin, or that other priorities, like resolving the refugee situation, are starting to outweigh it. ## Why ASEAN consensus matters here ASEAN operates on consensus, meaning Myanmar's return to full participation ultimately depends on agreement across all member states, not just Malaysia's position alone. Anwar's comments carry real weight given Malaysia's active role in the bloc, but they represent an opening argument rather than a settled outcome. Other member states with their own concerns about Myanmar's civil war and its human rights record will still need to be brought along before any formal change in Myanmar's standing takes effect. ## What it means for the region A Myanmar fully reengaged with ASEAN would reshape how the bloc handles everything from cross border trade to the broader refugee situation that has rippled across Southeast Asia since the conflict began. For now, Anwar's pledge marks a diplomatic signal rather than a resolved policy, one that will be tested by how the parallel repatriation process unfolds and by whether Myanmar's internal conflict shows any genuine sign of easing in the months ahead. --- Originally published by South East Money. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://southeastmoney.id/article/anwar-backs-myanmar-s-return-to-asean-s-table-tying-it-to-refugees-going-home.